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H/9/1988-1-

September 6, 1988; page 1

Our 873rd meeting was held at the Cedars, home of Helen Farquhar as well
as Mary Grady, Tom Farquhar and their two children, Kate and Andrew. It
was a splendid late afternoon, perfect for viewing the lovely grounds and
Tom and Mary's wide, ambitious, and productive garden. The house itself
sported a new paint job and looked appropriately grand and glorious in
preparation for hosting the October 8th wedding of Miss Brooke Farquhar who
attended the evening's meeting and Victor Bullen. The meeting was made
distinctive by the attendance of previously active members Mary Moore Miller,
Sylvia Woodward, Martha Nesbitt, Betsy and Herb Kinney. Guests included Hal
and Anne Cope, and Pat and Fred Mills. Missing were the Earps and the
Goffs.

The meeting started off with a remembrance of George Coffee who passed
away recently. Mr. Coffee was never a member of the Horticultural Society
but his contributions to the community and his horticultural abilities were
easy to appreciate and will be sadly missed.

The previous month saw the annual appearance of the Montgomery County
Fair. We were pleased to hear through the grape vine that the Fair
bestowed on Elie Rogers the title of Grand Champion for his wine making
expertise. Tom Farquhar was also honored for submitting the 2nd heaviest
tomotoe and given a Blue Ribbon for a large onion.

Unfinished business included an update on Flora Goff's medical state - she is
said to probably be in the hospital for another 2 months. More unfinished
business dealt with the group pictures taken at the Chances last July. These
photos along with those taken after this meeting's garden tour should be a
good representation of the 125th season's membership.

Elie Roger was the chosen speaker. He presented us with selections from the
Commissioner of Agriculture's report to Present Lincoln in 1863. Most notable
was the fervid recommendation the southern states turn their energies toward
the cultivation of tea and coffee, opium poppy, vanilla, ginger and castor
bean, wax, and quassia plants, silk cocoons, gum arabic, mastic and camphor
trees, chinese yams, sweet chestnuts, almonds, Persian walnuts, cork and
gall-nut oak, the arrow, licorice, and orris roots, hemp, prune, fig, date
pomegranate, olive, tamarind, guava, nectarine, shaddock, pineapple, pistachio,
Iceland moss, indigo, frankincense, balsam, Egyptian senna and others.

John Hartge read excerpts from a letter he received from the New York
State department of health. This notice warned of sporotricosis which is a
skin disease acquired from handling sphagnum moss. Ths symptoms are skin
bumps that ulcerate and persist until treated.

Polly Conlon offered a poem penned by her daughter Hannah. A copy will be
included with these minutes and the original returned to the Conlon archives.

Missing the minutes from 100 years ago Elizabeth Thornton read a short
History of the Society written by Mary Moore Miller for the October 1, 1963
meeting.