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H/6/1966-1-

June 7-1966 - In our 103rd Year
At Oakley with Jack and Helen Bentley

An amazing assortment of evergreens greet us as we turn down
Bentley Road toward Oakley, which is so pleasantly situated at one
end of the Hawlings river valley. Jack and Helen can see from their
own picture windows a beautiful expanse of Montgomery county, which
stretches clear across Howard County up into parts of Carroll County.
Of course this pretty vista includes their own lawn, well-kept gardens
and an unusual grove of Holly trees. Needless to say, everyone
thoroughly enjoyed rambling around the grounds before settling down
to the usual delicious pot-luck supper.

We shouldn't say "usual" supper, because this time we had a
real treat! We helped Edward Iddings celebrate his 90th birthday,
which was June 9th, by enjoying Mary Redding's homemade cake that
he sliced and served among us by himself. Everyone sang and wished
him many more days like this one.

President Ulric Hutton called us together at 7:58 pm, and
welcomed our guests, Art and Rose Souder, who are close neighbors
of the Bentleys. Absentees included the Canbys, the Farquhars,
Vernon Hussman, Francis Thomas and the Wilsons. The Secretary's
reading of the previous minutes was approved as read.

Our reader for the evening, Pete Ligon, found a couple of
delightful articles in an old 1833 Horticultural magazine or book,
but he persuaded his wife, Betty, to do the actual reading. One
short article mentioned raising various apples, but the only kinds
mentioned then that we recognize now were the Baldwin and the Pippin.
A longer article in the 1833 "New American Gardener", written by
Thomas G Fessenden editor of The New England Gardener, gave explicit
directions on preparation, planting, cultivation and raising an as-
paragus bed. The average family could be well supplied by 160
plants properly spaced in trenches of specific dimensions, with
plenty of room left for transplanting later. A minimum of three
years is needed for proper production, and preferably longer. The
beds must be kept clean and extra planting of vegetables between
the rows is questionable, but never should be done after the second
year. Asparagus should be carefully cut below the surface of the
ground up until midsummer night, June 21, the end of the season.
The old stalks should be burned on the bed in the early Spring and
soak the bed thoroughly with very salty water, or spread a bushel
of salt on a large bed.

Caroline Hussman read a volunteer article on the debris
collections made in Manistee, Michigan. It seems that their town
fathers offered one-half cent for each container collected and de-
posited in the city dump, not to be taken from it. Using all kinds
of transportation, after six hours of intensive collection, the
townspeople were paid a total of $517.00 for their splendid efforts.
Some statistician in the crowd figured out that would be about 500
cans collected per mile, and we wondered if we couldn't top that
record around here.

There was no "Forethought" on anyone's mind tonight, and no
regular weather report. However, Jack Bentley did have a record of
5.2 inches of rainfall during the month of May, which is considerable.