Club Minutes: Horticultural Society, 1960

H/4/1960 -1GRACELYN April 5, 1960

"Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year's pleasant king;" - and one of the pleasantest things about him is that he heralds the time for our Horticultural to bestir itself from a long winter's sleep and start once more on a pleasant round of visits with with well-loved friends in their charming homes. This spring we started our 97th. year at Gracelyn on April fifth with Francis and Grace Thomas entertaining us, - and the word "entertaining" is well used for not only did they receive us with their usual warmth and have all arrangements for our pleasure as nearly perfect as possible, but when time came for the evening's special entertainment it was provided by them, -about which more later.

After we had enjoyed the delightful repast which had been spread for our choosing in the attractively re-modelled dining-room, our business meeting was called to order by President Rust Canby and the minutes were read and passed. When the special selections were called for, our jovial host invited us to accompany him down into the garden. We were mentally shivering at the prospect as this was an unusually chilly April day, but Francis quickly dispelled our fears by not only giving us a clear mental picture of summer happenings among his tomato vines, but by even bringing in one of the engenious wire frames which he has devised for their better and easier cultivation. This was a basket-like contraption about five feet high which he had

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made from concrete re-inforcing wire by cutting away a vertical wire along one edge and hooking the transverse ends into the opposite edge. He carefully described how he makes a trench where the basket is to stand and firmly fills it up so as to insure against displacement by winds. During the bearing season he can reach through the squares in the wire to pick the fruit and in the fall the baskets with vines attached can be yanked up and stored for future use. There were many other valuable points which we might mention but we shall refrain for fear of violating patent rights.

Next our hostess entertained us with well chosen selections from the Annals of Sandy Spring, including notes from the diary of Andrew Adams telling of the unseasonably warm Christmas of 1929 when many flowers and vegetables were blooming in the gardens at Ten Oaks, and of 1931 which was the hottest year since the weather bureau was established. Other interesting exceprts included notes on flying, on clubs, and on the planting of trees at Sherwood and along Meeting-House Road.

Douglas' meterological report, carefully kept from last October, recorded little rain and almost no snow until March when 25 inches of it fell! Also a most unusual fact was that the mean temperature for each month made a descending scale of degree, -58, 43, 38, 35, 35, and finally the lowest of the winter 32 degrs. for March!

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On bird-lore our President said that he and Elizabeth on their recent Carribean trip saw no birds in the tropical woods and only about twelve gulls over the sea. At The Highlands meadow-larks have been around all winter, and at Concord cow-birds have dominated the feeding-stands. A flicker runs around at Great Ease but never flys, which Andrew explains is because it is after grubs, but Leon said, "the poor bird never got its flying license."

The Assist. Sec'ty, Roberta, identified the many attractive flowers on display as having come from Millwood, the Huttons, Great Ease, and Bien Venu, with the last named also bringing husky young tomato plants.

This being the meeting for the election of officers, Pres. Canby called for a report from the nominating committee which consisted of Helen Hallowell and our host and hostess. Francis reported that all of the encumbent officers would serve again except two extremely important ones, - our President and Mme. Forethought, who, the committee suggested, be succeeded by Jack Bentley as President and Sylvia Woodward as Forethought chairman. The splendid services of these retiring officers made us deeply regretful to let them go, but the excellent suggestions for replacements won a unanimous vote for their election which was cast by Elizabeth Ligon.

The first duty of our newly elected president was to call for a report from our new Mme. Forethought.

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This report was rewarding indeed and was even illustrated since Sylvia passed around for our inspection a number of attractive pictures showing the various kinds of lettuce that we should all be growing.

In the Question Period, Andrew told of having filled an order for 5,000 azaleas, to be potted over night, by putting "every man, woman, and child in Howard County to work on the job"; and another of our star gardeners, Ulric, when asked what he has been doing in his garden, said, "Nothing at all. Just letting nature take its course."

We concluded our meeting by responding to Pres. Bentley' s request for a rising motion of thanks in recognition of the fine and faithful work done by our retiring officers, Rust Canby and Rebecca Small.

Ruth S Havens Secretary.

Meteorological Report Apr. 5, 1960

High Av. High Low Av. Low Mean Rain

oct.59 86 66 30 50 58

Nov. 75 52 18 34 43

Dec 59 46 10 30 38

Jan 1960 54 42 14 28 35 3. 2 in

Feb 64 43 14 27 35 4. 2

Mar 78 41 5 23 32 . 2

25 in. snow!