by Maggie Lidz
HF du Pont made few notes about the Winterthur garden in July as he spent most of the month at his Southampton summer house. The exception was during World War 2. The notes that he made in July during the 1940s understandably focus on the farm and reflect some of the concerns common during the war years.
July 18, 1941 to Mrs. Chamberlain Chanler, HF271: After a long drought here, it is raining its head off and everything is rotting away. The trials of a gardener are manifest!
July 22, 1941 to W.A. Brooks: I am here [Winterthur] from Southampton for my every other week visit and am thankful that is has finally got dry enough so that we can thresh our wheat. A few more wet days and it would have sprouted in the fields and you know what that means to a farmer.
July 1942 to Albert Ely Ives: We have been here all summer and it has been very pleasant. Everybody else is staying home also.
July 23, 1943 to Bessie Andrews: Everyone is gardening furiously, freezing and putting up all kinds of vegetables for next winter. With the help of several boys we manage to keep the place looking quite nicely. The poor despised farmer has at last come into his own! We have beef cattle, sheep etc. and do our own slaughtering, so we don’t bother with those terrible rationing coupons.
