Page 11

H/7/1991-1-

July 2, 1991, Pi Acres, page 1

The Sandy Spring Horticultural Society met at the Fletcher's for their first
hosting of the group. If that distinction had anything to do with the lovely
and much needed downpour that immediately preceded the meeting, we can
thank the Fletchers for having a parade for the clouds to open up on.
Despite a lightning damaged transformer in Sandy Spring that routed many of
us to take a circuitous path we arrived and the rain tapered off so that we
could admire the many endeavors of an imaginative and talented family. The
Secretary can vouch that at any time of the day or year the Fletcher's
enclave is always presentable, productive, and resplendent as the Society
viewed it that evening.

Unfortunately missing were the Canbys, Priscilla Allen, Nancy Preuss, Beth
Bullard, and Elie Rogers. Guests included Sherry Fletcher's parents Twyla and
Lyle Mader.

Unbelievably, there were only two dessert dishes fielded for the meal's end.
Not so unbelievable, we dined extravagantly and began the meeting around
9:00 with Ted Fletcher wielding the gavel in Nancy Preuss' absence. The
previous minutes were read, corrected and passed.

The assigned reader was Edwina Earp who brought an article from the Wall
Street Journal about 92 year old Brother Adam who has spent the last 76
years raising honey bees. "Raising" is a pale, insufficient term for the
exhaustivem painstaking, and vitally important task of selectively breeding
bees to resist diseases, parasites, and environmental peculiarities. When he's
not roaming Europe and the Mediterranean searching for resistant strains of
honeybees he is in a remote part of Scotland where he carries out the nuts
and bolts of breeding strengths and weaknesses in and out of honeybees.

There was no volunteer article and so we went on to the reading of the
minutes from 100 years ago.

We continued on to the Forethought which began with the understatement
that there were a great many things to do. We were advised to water lawns
early in the morning. Pant - I mean plant for fall harvest. Spray when air
is calm. Apply 10-10-10 to tomatoes. Prune flowers. Stake plants. Give
roses their last feeding and stop pinching mums ! The black locust trees will
be suffering from seasonal leaf miner damage but don't worry. Side dress
corn if bottom leaves are yellow and other indications hint low nitrogen.
Weed, harvest, plant, and pray for rain.

Speaking of rain the Meteorologist reported that the 1st two weeks of the
month gave us less than a quarter inch. The total for the month was 2.9"
which was not helpful but the same as last year. The high temperature was
95 and the low was 47. The winds were mild and generally the whole month
bore a close resemblance to last year's June.

Exhibits

Among the offerings Rose Hill included phlox, yarrow, astilbe, zinnia,
nicotiana, cornflower, perovskia, and an unidentified white flower.