The Manotick Horticultural Society: 90 years of fellowship & community service

Not all the minutes for all the meetings spanning the early years of the Society are recorded, but there is enough information to register the highs and lows of the Society up to the Nov. 12th, 1946 meeting. It is fitting that this last entry recorded the fact that a special tea was held in honour of out-going Society’s Secretary Mrs. Annie Clapp (mother of Dorothy Clapp, herself Past President and long -time Secretary) for the ten years of faithful service as one of the founders of the Society.

Here are some tidbits from the Society’s glorious past:

• By March, 1930, seven very determined canvassers of the membership committee had secured 71 paid-up members and, by year’s end, there were 103 members. The membership fee was initially $1.00, but a comparison of the membership lists and the annual financial reports over the next decade indicates that the fee may have later been reduced to 50 cents. Might this have been because of the effects of the Depression on family budgets?

• One source of income was identified. In 1931, the Society started holding its annual flower show in the month of August and the price of admission was 10 cents, and money was approved to print membership cards, a sure sign the Society was on solid footing.

• In July 1931, the Society executive voted to have refreshments at the meetings, a tradition that we still carry forward, thank goodness!

• At the very first meeting of the Society in 1930, one of the Board as was designated to research for a seed company through which members could order products. Two Ottawa companies were considered and the Graham Brothers was selected, and 125 “premium lists” were ordered and $115.53 worth of seeds and shrubs were eventually purchased. However, in 1933, the Society switched allegiance to the Ken McDonald and Sons Seed House and stuck with them until at least 1946; the company was in business in the Byward Market from 1875 to the 1960s.

• In February 1932, the Society started an outreach program to local youth, a tradition that would continue for many years. It was proposed that seeds be purchased and distributed to the senior classes of the public schools so that flowers grown by the students could be shown in a special class at the annual August MHS flower show.

• The Society displayed a commitment early on to preserving the local ecosystem. In 1935, a letter was drafted and sent to “the Government” to protest the use of the river banks as a dumping ground. In 1937, there was growing concern within the Society about the preservation of provincial wild flowers, in particular the Trillium, and it was suggested that a good approach to raise awareness would be to get local school children involved.

• In 1937, a decision was made to approach the Village Trustees regarding the Dickinson property lot being presented to the Village as a memorial to the family, with the idea of beautifying it. Whoever made a case for this project must have succeeded because, in 1938, an Improvement Committee was formed and the Society approved $10.00 to be spent on what was now being referred to as the Dickinson Memorial Lot, providing the Township ponied up a matching $10.00 which it did, according to financial records. A photo of the lot was sent to the University of Guelph for plant-

2 ing suggestions appropriate for a park-like setting; a three-year plan was drawn up.

• In 1938, the Society got into show business to raise funds, organizing a community concert at Harmony Hall (later the Manotick Legion building that burned down). Featured were performances by local talent, including the Manotick Orchestra and the Kitchen Orchestra. The concert raised a whopping $50.29, a considerable sum for that time!

• In 1943, MHS initiated the Victory Garden program; vegetable seeds were purchased, and Society members, Manotick citizens and school children worked side-by-side to produce fresh vegetables to supplement food products restricted by rationing. MHS also had a program called Seeds for Britain, through which seed packets were purchased and sent to Britain to increase fresh food production for the embattled British public.

• The August 14, 1945 meeting of MHS cut short. Why? Because V-J Day was declared, and it was noted in the formal meeting minutes that the meeting would be short one!

• For decades, thanks to the generosity of Watson’s Mill Manotick Inc. the Society was able to use the Mill as a venue, for the Society’s Annual Spring Plant Sale which has been legendary in the Village; there is always an eager line-up of gardeners waiting for the door to open, and the first 15 minutes of the sale is a “feeding frenzy” as the choice items (donated by Society members) are quickly snapped up.

• Down through the years, the Manotick Horticultural Society has tended a number of public gardens in the Village. Today, volunteer teams of the Society’s membership maintain gardens at the Manotick Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, in AY Jackson Park, and at the local Canada Post Office, as well as the Millennium Garden along the Veterans Walk, the Sue Slade Day Lily Garden in front of the Carriage Shed, the garden in front of Dickinson House and the Pioneer Herb Garden behind the House.

Mr. Laidlaw moved on to the War of 1812.  He believes that Isaac Brock was a genius, as indicated by the stratagems he employed to convince the American Brigadier General Hull to surrender Detroit, convincing him that the British-Canadian-Indian force was much larger than it was, and implying that he would not be able to control the Indians when battle was joined.

He did, however, criticize Brock for behaving like a junior officer leading his troops personally at Niagara, and getting himself killed.  He praised the military skills of Tecumseh, who played such a vital part in the first year of the war and was critical of Major General Henry Procter whose defeat at Moraviantown (the battle of the Thames) led to Tecumseh’s death.

Mr. Laidlaw suggests that Major General William Henry Harrison, “old Tippecanoe”, a future President of the United States, personally killed Tecumseh.

He continued on through Canadian history, with an aside on the Franklin expeditions, in which he repeated the now-discounted story that Franklin’s men died from lead poisoning from the new canning process for foods which he had championed. He discussed the effects of the Fenian raids on Canada, and noted that the final raid on Manitoba in 1871 was foiled by the actions of Louis Riel and a Métis band.  This is a less-known contribution by Riel to Canadian history.

The meeting was well attended, the facilities wonderful, the food good and the talk very interesting.  A good night.

Mr. Laidlaw’s final segment was the story of the Avro Arrow.  In the 1950s A.V. Roe Canada designed and built the Avro CF-105 Arrow, which he claimed to be the most advanced interceptor built then or since.  Unfortunately, he said, in 1957, the year the Arrow first flew, the Russians launched Sputnik I, the first orbiting artificial satellite.  The Americans lost interest in manned interceptors in favour of missiles and did not encourage the Canadian efforts.

At the same time, he said,  Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and A.V. Roe President Crawford Gordon disliked each other intensely.  In 1959 Diefenbaker cancelled the Arrow programme and ordered the prototypes to be destroyed.  Many Avro employees were in tears.  In the years following, many left Canada and joined aerospace development in the United States, some participating in NASA’s programme to put a man on the moon.

A lively question and answer session followed the presentation.  Ruth Wright thanked our speaker, and the meeting broke up for refreshments, book buying and more questions to Mr. Laidlaw.