36 State Horticultural Society. 



Roses should have a prominent place in every garden; the 

 climbing sorts should adorn the porches or galleries of each cot- 

 tage and mansion; for the beauty and fragrance of this flower 

 m.ust recall to the soul visions of its lost paradise. 



When Paradise was lost, mankind 

 Wept bitter tears the muse supposes ; 

 And wliere they fell on fallow ground, 

 They came to life, in form of roses. 



So, while dear Paradise no more 

 Its blissful charms to man discloses, 

 He should not murmur, but rejoice, 

 W'hile toil can bring him fragrant roses. 



Amid the bewildering variety of seeds, shrubs and plants, he 

 who decides to grow only roses must not be considered a narrow- 

 minded individual, for nothing in the flower world is more charm- 

 ing than a well-kept rose garden. One rose bush, well pruned and 

 cared for, is more to be esteemed than a large collection of dis- 

 couraged, neglected, weed-crowded plants, trying to grow without 

 cultivation or needful food supply. Flowers and weeds do not get 

 on well together, no matter how near the relationship. When the 

 dog fennel crowds into company with the fever few, the better 

 bred plant feels "the call of the wild" too strongly to be resisted, 

 and soon there is only a bed of dog fennel. The refined and care- 

 fully bred plant is always absorbed or injured when in proximity 

 to its wild cousin, who better understands the law of self-preserva- 

 tion. George lies, in his essay on "The Strange Story of the 

 Flowers," published in 1894, estimated that only one thousand 

 plants had been tamed and trained by the united efforts of both 

 farmer and gardener, and that there were then about 110,000 

 known- varieties still classed as weeds. How many of these have 

 been tamed and trained since that date I do not know, but with 

 such men as Mr. Burbank, hard at work in this field of science, 

 we have reason to believe that this large number has sensibly 

 diminished. 



It requires science to tame one of these shy beauties of field 

 or forest, patient study of its traits, and much experimenting; 

 it also takes love, without which no flower will respond heartily 

 to the efforts of the gardener. 



I do not hesitate to say that anyone who truly cares for flow- 

 ers may have an attractive garden. All that is required is a 

 judicious selection and intelligent cultivation; but the work really 

 must have heart in it, or it will result in disappointment. 



