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H/7/1966-1-
July 5-1966 - In our 103rd Year
At Rocky Ridge with Dale and Alan Thomas
To those of you who visited Rocky Ridge for the first time,
we hope you liked what you saw, but we'd like to remind you that it
was not always thus. During the very early years of this century,
this Groomes' property was known as "Grape Valley Farm" and even as
late as the Thirties and Forties, the productivity and beauty of the
Groomes' fields and garden was the pride of Sunshine. However, the
sun has a habit of setting once in awhile, so that during the Fifties
while the property was owned by a "city" family, without the know-
ledge or proper care of "country" living, the place became dreary
and forlorn. In fact, the front yard and beautiful gardens were
fenced in and used for a barn yard for cattle, sheep and swine.
The place was so barren when we came here in 1960 that we
began planting right away. Practically all the small trees, fruit
trees, evergreens, bushes and flowers were planted by us, so that
by the time you come around again, we hope we will have a much better
showing. Maturally, we were very pleased to have you visit, and the
food you brought for pot-luck was absolutely delicious and too much.
President Ulric Hutton managed to get us all together in one
small room at 7:55 pm, and welcomed our guests, the two Mothers-in-Law,
Mrs Sarah Mannakee and Mrs Ethel Thomas, and our daughter, Mrs
Dale T. Trott from Baltimore. We were sorry that the President's
little granddaughter had to leave too early to make everyone's ac-
quaintance. The Farquhars are still away visiting the British Isles,
but several cards have inquired about the Horticultural Society and
they expect to return in time for the next meeting; also absent were
the Hussman's, Claire Hutton and the Ligons.
The Secretary looked around in vain for a substitute to take
minutes at his own meeting, but there seemed to be an emphatic negative
response. The previous minutes were read and accepted.
The subject chosen for the evening by Bea Hutton was "Trees
Do Grow Fast" and proved to be a very interesting account by Sam
Hemming of the growth habits of various kinds of trees. The life
span of most trees is about the same as man, 70 to 100 years, while
going thru practically the same stages as Juvenile, Youthful, Matu-
rity and Old Age. One of the exceptions would be our own Maryland
Wye Oak, now estimated to be 450 years old. A wide variety of trees
mature between 25 and 35 years old, maybe 3 to 4 feet in diameter and
up to 75 feet high. Guessing the age of trees has proven very hard
to do without an actual cut, as some are very erratic. The oaks
seem to be the largest, the early chestnuts were good, but a Chinese
Elm is very erratic and usually of very poor quality. A Carolina
Popular can reach four feet thick in about 65 years, while the pines
and the soft woods are generally the most rapid growers.
Bea Wilson's Forethought sounded like she meant for us to
plant perennials, pick off all faded flowers, get rid of poisons
but spray plenty of DDT around, trim and prune bushes and fruit,
divide Oriental Poppies and Iris, enrich your soil with bonemeal
and make your last planting of Glads.
There was no real weather report, except that everyone note
that Summer has come in with a heat wave. It has been over 90° almost
every day this summer. Many cities are having record highs.
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