Horticultural Society

H/8/1866-2-

we examined the display of fruits, flowers, and vegetables brought by the members. The flowers from Rachel Gilpins & Sharon Tilden Tomato, the ground nuts from Riverside, (awakening pleasant reminiscenses of boyhood and many a hull dropped surepticiously upon the school room floor) the sweet potatoes from Sharon, Rachel Gilpins , and Robt. M. Stablers the winning star cabbage, from Stanmore, & the Elephantine Egg plant weighing 7 1/4 lbs. from Robt. M. Stablers. All were examined & discussed. Our examination of these was most pleasantly interrupted by our being invited out to discuss some most palatable & refreshing canteleups & watermelons of our host & hostess own raising the quality was only equalled by quantity and the quantity seemed inexhaustable. even the most persevering on such occassions had to cry "Hold! enough." while enjoying the feast we were called to examine critically the large number of very fine chickens raised at "Hermon", they being not at all diffident. After reading the minutes of our last meeting the Secretary reported that the minutes of former meetings

154 H/8/1920 -6-

blooms preventing their forming.

The question was asked how many had gardens without weeds - no volunteer answer - but one remarked it was very hard to keep them back.

Have any seen tracks of moles this season? Some saw dead moles on the road last winter. It is supposed they were frozen out. Brooke Grove says they have had lots, but then every thing seems to thrive at Brooke Grove.

What nut bearing trees must you plant? English walnuts, Stablers' black walnuts, & pecans. Albert Stabler has been very successful in raising nut trees, he told us to get the northern variety to have budded stock, or grafted nut trees do not bear very early. Mr. Littlepage is the best authority on the subject.

What variety of late peas must one plant? Plant the early variety about the middle of Aug.

How do you raise egg plants? Keep them well sprayed with pyrox.

Mrs. Downey has had good success

H/9/1990-3-

September 4, 1990, Quailhill, page 3

Elizabeth Thornton asked where scraping corn was available. Todd Greenstone and the Stablers were two possible sources. She also bemoaned a large harvest of Georgia Jet sweet potatoes that were big and tasteless.

Susan Canby has powdery mildew on lilacs - should she prune them now? No, the mildew won't kill - it just weakens. Prune later.

Sally Eller inquired about japanese lotus. It was said that if the Earps were here they'd know.

John Hartge asked what favorite scents the group could come up with. Honey suckle, bridal veil, lilac, Viburnum, basil, lemon balm, wild artemesia, and mint were among those offered.

In the wake of Gordy Allen-Wardell's eloquent proponency of bee keeping, Bettes Hartge offered that a Bee Report might make a good addition to our meetings. There were nods of agreement but no movement was formally addressed.

Sherry Fletcher is looking for a stand of milkweed. Behind soccer field at SSFS suggested. She is interested in Monarch Butterfly eggs whose numbers have suffered considerably because of gypsy moth spraying. The Ellers have lots of milkweed but no monarch eggs. West Virginia Monarch count is way down.

Ted Fletcher has an adult Japanese Maple that is doing poorly. Brookside gardens has the same problem and if the missing members of the society were in attendance, they'd probably know what was wrong. Also what would be the advantage to being polluted at night? Less competition.

Ellis Manning watched a cicada killer in action. He made it sound like being next to a military proving ground crossed with roller derby and professional wrestling. Gordy Allen-Wardell related an instance when he was manning the Extension Service telephone when a concerned individual asked how he could keep his child from being attacked by a cicada killer. Gordy recommended never, never dress the child up as a cicada. Christie added that his tenure at the phones is not guaranteed.

We at some point appologized to our guests about the absence of our brain trust and agreed that in the future those members should not be given permission to slim our ranks so completely as they did that evening.

The hosts were grateful for those who did attend and congratulated themselves for passing themselves off as grownups. We concluded the meeting and agreed to next meet at Roslyn, home of the Hussmans when Harold Earp would be the assigned reader.

Humbly, Peter Austin sec/treas.