[Granville-Hough] 7 Oct 2009 - Dispersion of Sullivan Hollow Dogwoods

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:01:49 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Dogwoods - 7 Oct 2009


Dispersion of Sullivan Hollow Dogwoods.

There is an untold story about the beautiful flowering dogwoods of 
SullivanÆs Hollow and how they now may be found all over the South. It 
happened about 1939 when my next older brother, Rudolph Hough, had begun 
working for T. G. Owen & Son of Columbus, MS, the largest horticultural 
nursery in the state at that time. Rudolph handled the orders Mr. Owen 
received, and one they could not fill was for flowering dogwood. Rudolph 
remembered that we had some beautiful dogwoods on our farm on the edges 
of woodsy areas. He remembered that the flowers of spring turned into 
little red fruits with seeds in the fall.
Rudolph asked me if I thought I could gather some seed. I was about 16 
or 17 years old and my brothers were younger. Rudolph suggested we 
gather the seed and ship them from Magee to him at Columbus by Railway 
Express. He offered us a good price by the pound. We learned we could 
lean a ladder against a tree, then climb the ladder and pick the berries 
and put them into a small cotton sack, just like picking cotton. Dogwood 
trees are small, so that we were never over six feet off the ground. We 
picked 160 pounds of berries and shipped them to Rudolph. At Columbus 
they spread and dried the berries, then planted the seeds. They 
germinated well and for the next ten years, T. G. Owen & Son shipped 
dogwood plants all over the South.
So the next time you see a native flowering dogwood in a yard or park in 
some Southern city, just recall that, like most of you, it may have its 
ancestry and cousins in SullivanÆs Hollow.

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Martha Washington's wisdom: "The greater part of our happiness or misery 
depends on our disposition and not our circumstances." (Some later 
legends, I cannot confirm. The quote may have been what made Martha 
unhappy with one of her nicest handmaidens who often appeared at public 
ceremonies and private parties in fine clothes, and who got to eat the 
best food the Washington's could afford. This handmaiden asked for 
emancipation and Martha complained to George, who simply said: "We 
fought the British to be free. She, too, wants her freedom." So it was 
that George then wrote into his will that all or part of his slaves 
would be emancipated when both he and Martha died. Later, widow Martha 
began to realize that her slaves were just waiting for her death in 
order to become free. It is said she became paranoid that she would be 
poisoned by one of them.)