March 31, 1906 



HORTICULTURE 



405 



of their business — that to intimate 

 that one intends to build means a busy 

 time with our genial solicitor but if 

 you have, never been in contact with 

 the gentleman who solicits for our 

 large printing houses there is in store 

 for you an experience that will add 

 much to the zest of living. Having, we 

 shall assume, survived his strenuous 

 preliminary of placing the printing 

 contract, the work of preparing copy 

 for the printer means weeks, and in 

 many cases months of careful, pains- 

 taking labor. The material for each 

 department is collated from time to 

 time throughout the year, the space it 

 is to occupy is determined upon, then 

 the material is carefully edited and 

 made to fit into the allotted space, all 

 of which requires an outlay of energy 

 that would be almost impossible in 

 the short space of time given to the 

 work, unless these details were not 

 carefully systematized. 



At all times it must be kept in mind 

 that the matter of postage upon big 

 editions is a very serious Item, and 

 where the weight exceeds even by the 

 smallest fraction of an ounce, one cent 

 is thereby added, the rate being one 

 cent for every two ounces or fractional 

 part thereof. Having finished the 

 catalogue, they are mailed to the most 

 distant States at the most seasonable 

 times, that the suggestion produced by 

 the arrival of the catalogue will not 

 be lost through unfavorable weather 

 conditions. In the Rose trade the 

 period of activity is confined from the 

 15th of January to the 1st of June. 

 Orders must be handled with great 

 skill and dispatch, and it is not un- 

 common in our large establishments 

 during the busy days to fill an order 

 a minute. It will be seen that the 

 average mail order man has no ex- 

 tended periods of relaxation, for having 

 placed his advertising campaign in 

 operation he is called upon almost 

 immediately to see to it that the prom- 

 ises and conditions he has set forth 

 in his literature are made good, there- 

 fore, as a rule, he assumes personal 

 supervision of the order department. 

 He must of necessity know the busi- 

 ness thoroughly, and must ever be 

 upon the alert to secure the very latest 

 and most meritorious varieties, and it 

 is here that his acquaintance with 

 geographical conditions must serve 

 him in good stead, for a Rose that suc- 

 ceeds admirably in New Orleans will 

 not bring satisfaction to the planter in 

 Boston, and as all parts of the country 

 must be served, the mail order man 

 is keenly alert to test the merits of 

 every new Rose introduced. He must 

 ever keep in mind that to advance his 

 business he must first satisfy the 

 public. 



The mail order trade has developed 

 wonderfully within the last ten years, 

 and I am firmly convinced that it is 

 but in its infancy. The study of human 

 nature enters largely into its success 

 or failure. It must be realized that to 

 sell goods to let us say a quarter of a 

 million different individuals through 

 the medium of printers' ink. requires 

 on the part of the mail order man 

 first of all. honesty of purpose and 

 forceful and attractive descriptions, 

 such as will beget the confidence of 

 the average buyer. 



This business is largely cash, which 

 speaks volumes for the confidence in 

 which this class of rose growers is 

 held, when we realize that the flower 



Group op Rambler Roses. 



Exhibited by M. H. Walsh, Wood's Hole, .Mass. 



buyers of the country intrust to their 

 keeping annually certainly not less than 

 five million of dollars, and this be- 

 fore a dollar's worth of goods is de- 

 livered. 



The time is here when closer affili- 

 ation between the mail order trade and 

 those engaged in forcing Roses for the 

 market will redound to the advantage 

 and welfare of this Society. Right 

 here would like to say that our co- 

 operation in bringing before the public 

 new American Roses' may be counted 

 upon, and I would encourage our grow- 

 ers to greater efforts in this depart- 

 ment of work. The catalogue man 

 always wants new and meritorious 

 varieties. Heretofore he has depended 

 very largely upon Europe for new 

 Roses, and in the majority of instances 

 these now varieties from abroad have 

 not adapted themselves to our climate. 

 The demand is here, and if by con- 

 centrated encouragement given new 

 candidates for favor we increase the 

 list of really meritorious roses, we are 

 advancing, if I am not mistaken, one 

 of the cardinal principles of this or- 

 ganization. 



It is to be deplored that many of us 

 assume a harsh attitude toward many 

 of cur new American roses. It must 

 be borne in mind that there is a vast 

 difference to be expected where the 

 grower of a new rose has but a lim- 

 ited quantity of plants to work from, 

 than the grower yho has thousands 

 of plants from which he may select 

 a dozen exhibition blooms. I might 

 add, also, that there is an almost un- 

 limited field for free blooming roses 

 that will withstand the rigors of our 

 northern winters, so, while we are 

 ever ready to welcome more Golden 

 Gates. Richmonds, Queen Beatrices, 

 Tom Fields, and Miss Kate Moultons, 

 let me urge you to keep in mind the 

 needs of the mail order trade for 

 hardy, rugged, free blooming roses, 

 adapted to the coldest parts of the 

 country. In this class there has been 

 few additions within recent years. 



There is a great field open for the 

 hybridization of roses based for their 

 constitution upon such classes as Hy- 

 brid Perpetuals and Rugosas, the 

 Wichuraiana Seedlings, which are such 

 a notable feature of the exhibition, 

 and if our American hybridizers will 

 work along these lines, the results 

 will best suit the peculiarities of our 

 varying climate, and I am confident 

 that it will be but a comparatively 

 short time until we will take our place 

 as leaders in the production of new 

 and useful roses. 



The next on the program was a 

 paper on rose growing for cut flowers 

 by J. J. Curran of Elmira. N. Y. (See 

 next week's HORTICULTURE.) 



A paper by A. Parenwald of Roslyn, 

 Pa., was next in order. 

 The Deterioration of Forcing Roses — 

 Its Causes and Effect. 

 By A. Farenwald. 

 "Our Failures," I might justly call 

 this introduction to this subject. 

 Little do we hear of these failures in 

 our trade papers. Why? Because 

 very few care to publicly ventilate 

 their failures. Pride, no doubt, often 

 prevents growers from proclaiming 

 these, whereby others might gain valu- 

 able information. One of the main 

 objects of the Rose Society is to seek 

 and distribute this information con- 

 cerning roses. 



In handling this topic I shall mere- 

 ly confine myself to stating facts 

 which all of you, I am sure, have more 

 or less come in contact with, leaving 

 it for the discussion to find the cause 

 and remedy, if it is possible. 



In the first place, are our species of 

 forcing roses deteriorating? If they 

 are, why? Can anyone prove by their 

 records that they are still producing 

 as many flowers per plant as they did 

 in the early stages of their introduc- 

 tion, as in Brides, or Maids, Beauties, 

 or any other older forcing variety? 

 If they are not, what seems to be the 

 reason? 



