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H/7/1975 -1-

THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
July Meeting, 1975.

The Horticultural Society met at Pine Hill on July 1,
1975, with Sylvia and Richard Woodward. The buffet was as
varied and delicious as usual. We all admired the beautifully
set dining table with its Bicentennial red, white and
blue colors. It was lovely. So was the garden with its roses
and other flowers and vegetables, and with the many tables
set out there we took our suppers outside.

Our President Robert Miller called the meeting to order.
The minutes of the last meeting were read, and they were approved
as corrected.

Tom Canby, our reader for the evening, reviewed an article
by Lewis Marden on Bamboo that will appear sometime next Spring
in the National Geographic Magazine.

Bamboo is a native of the Orient. Blooms which are in
looks somewhat similar to wheat occur at intervals of from 30
to 60 years, or even 100 years. When it blooms it dies, and
the seeds dropped start new plants. Bamboo while light in
weight is stronger than steel. It has thousands of uses. It
is eaten as a vegetable (its shoots being kept tender by covering
with dirt); it is used to mark edges of beds and walks in
gardens, as fishing rods, in the making of reenforced concrete,
in construction work for almost every imaginable item of structural
use, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. In China there is
a suspension bridge of bamboo that is over 2,000 years old.
Unlike a tree, it grows very fast. It is an evergreen plant.

Helen Farquhar gave us a volunteer article; she summarized
a few of the projects being carried out by the Environmental
Defense Fund. This organization has challenged in Federal
Court the preference right coal leasing system on public
lands. Under this system a company may obtain a permit