Roy C. Johnson is in the process of checking a chair flag, curing it and making sure it’s dry. “Chair flag” is a local term for the green leaf of the cattail,  which are dried and twisted into ropes of rush that were/are used in furniture-making for the bottom of chair seats, often referred to as rush seats. Circa 1975. Three miles north of Redwood, a hamlet in the Town of Alexandria, NY. Courtesy of Dave Johnson.