546 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Al'RIL 3, 1900. 



flowers or novelties in making up, but 

 It s mostly a futile chase. Be content 

 with having good, well grown sLock 

 'tis nearly always better than "new 

 things." We have several "s-hools" 

 in the retail flower business just the 

 same as they have in painting. There's 

 the •■Natural" and the "Artificinl." We 

 advocate the "Natural." because there 

 is more beauty and more oroflt in it. 

 Don't neglect or undervalue the im- 

 portance of Easter decorations. Try 

 to encourage a greater adopticn of 

 them in churches, hotels rnd in dwell- 



ings. Most people feel more buoyant, 

 there seems to be a new infusion of li e 

 in all nature at Easter, even poverty 

 aspires from the depths of its rags and 

 shames the icy matter of fact. Sent - 

 meut. What is sentiment? Ah, 't s 

 the uncontrollable spirit of nature, and 

 her magic wand is the beautiful flowe.-. 

 Very much depends on your cwn 

 judgment; all the writings and advice 

 that could be put before you amount 

 to little if your ideas be narrow and 

 your greed dominant. IVERA. 



AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY. 



The First Exhibition. 



"You may break, you may shatter the vase If 

 you will. 

 But the scent of the roses will hane 'round 

 it stiil." 



So will it be of this great rose show. 

 Critics may have seen it ai;d found 

 fault with one item or anoiher, there 

 is always a plentiful ci-op of those 

 whose special, nay. only duty on earth 

 seems to be to criticise, liut the fact 

 will remain that for quality it was the 

 greatest show ever held, not merely in 

 this country but anywhere in the 

 world! This is an indisputable fact, 

 and when its importance is fully rec- 

 ognized the achievement of the Ameri- 

 can Rose Society will be m.ore appre- 

 ciated. It was a first attempt and 

 ended a glorious triumph. The ro:e is 

 still "Queen of Flowei-s" and aueen of 

 hearts, too. and the future of the soci- 

 ety and its shows is bright and ropy. 



A grave mistake was made in 1 olding 

 the exhibition in such a place as' the 

 Eden Musee, but it is not likely to oc- 

 cur again. The men who would not 

 hesitate to speculate thousands of dol- 

 lars on some business, venture should 

 not be afraid to hold the national rose 

 show in the finest place obtainable. 

 That the exhibition of liiOl will also 

 be held in New York City is a matter 

 for congratulation, because the wealthy 

 people of the metropolis are anxious to 

 assist in making the event memorable. 

 If you were an observant visitor or 

 attendant at this past show, you could 

 have noticed many beauties of human 

 nature as v.-ell as l)eauties of flowers. 

 Old and young, tco. pei'sistentlv in- 

 quired for Bon Siiene. JVIarechalNiel, 

 Lamarque. or La France, or some othei' 

 favorite of bygone days: there were 

 very few or none at all of these rosea 

 at the show. It would be well tor some 

 one to grow a few for the next event; 

 the peo|/le may admire the great gaudy 

 beauties of today, but their hearts are 

 moved at the si^ht of the little gems 

 we selioni. if ever, see nowadays. 



Many remarkable things occurred at 

 this exhibition. It was most forcibly 

 demonstrated that finer roses were be- 

 ing grown in other states than this. 

 Philadelphia. Utica and Toronto did 

 nobly, and Messrs. Dunlop. Myers & 

 Samtman, Heacock, Dorrance and 

 others from a distance deserve special 

 credit for their grand displays. Nor 

 must we ignore the claims of these 

 nearer home. Ernst G. Asmus did 

 more than any other man to make the 

 show a success. He staged no 1-ss 

 than 29 varieties for the Hill vase. 

 Among these were many old favcrites 

 and new seedlings and sports. His 

 exhibit for the Thorley cup was a mar- 

 vel of splendor, and his magnifier nt 

 new rose Liberty won every heart. We, 

 ourselves, had instructions from this 

 gentleman to spare no expense in mak- 

 ing the show a success. A Liberty cap 

 was made containing .550 "short 

 stemmed Liberty roses, a Liberty trte 

 12 feet in height and containing 2 

 long stemmed Liberty roses, and ; s 

 I for the mirror and mantel decoratirns 

 I we leave that for another time; su'- 

 I fice it to say that Mr. Asmus exh b- 

 ited no less than five thousand rotes af 

 this show. 



Mr. H. A. Siebi-echt showed some fine 

 work; his miniature rose garden wis a 

 gem and should have been spec ally 

 awarded. Paul JI. Pierson. Frank Mi- 

 Mahon. in fact all those who exhibited 

 deserve their full quoi^a of praise. 



This much is assured that des-pite 

 the sneers of the man with the prod 

 behind him, this society will be a su<- 

 cess for there is a unity of all elcmen's 

 here. The private gardener, the c(;m- 

 mercial grower, the wealthy peopi? 

 and the general public determined to 

 see that it is a success, and when you 

 consider the quality of tl;e men who 

 are guiding the ship what mattei-s it 

 if catfish fill the seas. 



The Annual Meetinf. 



This meeting wa.s- held at the Fifth 



Avenue hotel. New York, on March 



28th. President Benjanrn novrancn 



presided, .■\mong those i)resent we e 



Secretaries L. Barron and A. Herring- 

 ton. Treasuier J. N. May, Robeit 

 Craig, H. A. Siebrecht. N. Butterbaih, 

 A. Wallace, J. W. Withers. W. P. 

 Craig. Robt. .1. Halliday, L. M. Nos, 

 E. G. Asmus, E. Lonsdale, S. J. Reu- 

 ter, P. M. Pierson, H. Hentz, .Jr., I. L. 

 Powell. A. T. De La Mare, P. Welch. 

 P. Mathison, Peter Crowe, G. Fan- 

 court, Jos. Heacock. J. H. Taylor. H. 

 Dale, S. J. Betts. J. H. Dunlop, Piof. 

 HaJsted, S. C. Nash and others. 



The secretary's and treasurer's re- 

 ports showed the society to be in a 

 flourishing condition and much enthu- 

 siasm was displayed. The execut.ve 

 committee were instructed to select 

 delegates to discuss subjects pertaining 

 to the rose at the S. A. F. convention. 

 Mr. S. T. Betts. pre.=ident of the Cen- 

 tral New York Horticultural Society, 

 presented invitations from that body 

 and the mayor and Chamber of Com- 

 merce of Syracuse, for the society to 

 hold its next annual meeting and show 

 in Syracuse. Mr. Betts made an e'o- 

 quent plea for that city, and was much 

 disappointed when the membeis from 

 Philadelphia and Boston spoke and 

 voted in favor of giving New York city 

 another chance. 



The next annual spring show will 

 most likely be held at the Waldorf- 

 Astoria. In the opinions of a few it 

 was desirous that some wealthy and 

 prominent society man be elected as 

 president, but common sense prevailed 

 and a worker was kept at the wheel. 

 The old oSicers were reelected, Mr. J. 

 H. Taylor being chosen as vice-presi- 

 dent. J. I- D. 



PIECE-ROOT GRAFTING. 



The notes on grafting on pieces of 

 roots by INIr. Kellogg in the issues of 

 the Review for March 1 and 15 were 

 no doubt very interesting to many rote 

 growers. He did not, however, give 

 his modus operandi and this might be 

 useful to florists that have not had 

 experience in grafting roses in this 

 way and are unable to secure an ex- 

 pert, 



A few years ago when the grafting 

 of roses was written up in the trade 

 journals I tried a few dozen. Every 

 one rooted. I then grafted enough to 

 fill a house 110 feet long. Th's pro- 

 duced a heavy growth of wood and 

 flowered early and abundantly. 



Any one can graft in this way and I 

 will try to explain my method as 

 clearly as possible. I use Manetti 

 stocks; those that have been planted 

 two or three years are best. When dig- 

 ging the plants be careful to get all 

 the long and strong roots. Cut them 

 into pieces and store in a cool cellar 

 till wanted. One bush will make quite 

 a number of pieces for grafting. The 

 I)lant may be replanted and in two 

 years may be lifted again and root 

 [iruned as before. 



In prei)aring grafting wax take eijual 

 parts of resin, beeswax and tallow and 

 n;elt together in a double boiler (I 

 i^se a glue pot). Cut cotton twine into 

 I)ieces 4 or .'i inch(>s long and dip each 



