406 



HOKTICULTURE. 



March 28, 190S 



AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY 



Annual Exhibition and Meeting Held at Art Institute^ Chicago, IlL 



Buffalo To Be The Next Meeting Place 



Officers Elected 



\ 



PRESIDENT— August Poehlmann, Morton Grove, III.; VICE-PRESIDENT— W. F. Kasting, Buffalo, N. Y.; SECRE- 

 TARY — Benjamin Hammond, FIshkill-on-Hudson, N. Y.; TREASURER — Harry O. May, Summit, N. J. 

 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE — E. Gurney Hill, Richmond, Ind.; P. Welch, Boston; Peter Bisset, Washington, D. C; 

 A. Farenwald, Roslyn, Pa.; P. J. Lynch, West Grove, Pa.; J. J. Curran, Salem, Va.; Philip Breitmeyer, Detroit. 



The American Rose Society con- 

 vened at 8.30 o'clock Wednesday even- 

 ing, March 25, with a fair representa- 

 tion of members present, mainly from 

 other cities in the beautiful lecture 

 hall of the Art Institute, Chicago. 

 President Simpson read the following 

 address, which was received with ap- 

 preciative applause: 



President's Address. 



Ladies and Gentlemen. Fellow Mem- 

 bers of the American Rose Society: — 

 Another year has rolled around and 

 we again meet in our annual conven- 

 tion to look and talk over the work of 

 the year that is past, and to plan the 

 policy and work of the Society in the 

 future. 



Last year we met in the capital of 

 our country, and many of us felt hon- 

 ored by having the privilege of taking 

 the hand of the President of the United 

 States in ours and receiving his kindly 

 greeting and .good wishes for ourselves, 

 and noting his appreciation of the 

 work being done by the Rose Society 

 and many of the individual members. 

 It was said by many of our members 

 that the Washington meeting was in 

 many respects moie enthusiastic, and 

 gave promise of larger permanent re- 

 sults than any of its predecessors. 



This year through the generous in- 

 vitation of the Chicago Florists' Club 

 the American Rose Society plants its 

 banner in the city of Chica.go. the 

 great and magic city of the West, 

 where more roses are produced under 

 glass, and distributed from this point 

 over a larger area, than perhaps can be 

 said of any other center in the coun- 

 try, not even excepting the city of 

 New York. It seems therefore emi- 

 nently fitting that this society should 

 honor this city and this rose growing 

 centre by holding its exhibition and 

 convention here this year. Many of 

 you have seen the splendid exhibitions 

 given in the city of Chicago in the past 

 and have felt certain that the rose ex- 

 hibition this year would be a distinct 

 advance over anything hitherto at- 

 tempted or seen in this city of big 

 things. 



1 wish most heartily to express my 

 appreciation of the work done by the 

 Chicago Florists' Club and the Rose 

 show committee appointed by the club 

 to secure special premiums and ar- 

 range the many details incident to an 



undertaking of this kind. When we 

 remember that the lof^al florists have 

 on their hands and minds the National 

 Show to be given here next .November, 

 and that they will have to give much 

 of their time and means to put it 

 through in a manner befitting the oc- 

 casion and the scope of the undertak- 

 ing, we are constrained to take off our 

 hats to the men who have secured such 

 an array of special premiums as our 

 list shows, and have made jxissible 

 such a splendid exhibition as that we 

 have seen today. 



The meeting of our society here in 

 this western centre, for the first time 

 in its history, is a good augury for the 

 future of the society, I am very sure; 

 we shall miss a good many faces here 

 that have became familiar through 

 meeting them so frequently at the an- 

 nual gathering in the East, but we are 

 to make new friends that will join 

 with the old in making this society a 

 tower of strength, and make it r.ruly 

 national in scope and chaJ-acter as well 

 as in name. 



Use of the Society. 



In seeking to make recruits to our 

 organization one frequently hears the 

 remark, ''What is the use of having 

 so many societies anyway, and what 

 benefit would it be to me if I should 

 join the American Rose Society?" The 

 only answer that I can give is, "That 

 practically every grower of repute who 

 has had his attention called to the 

 aims and purposes of this organization 

 has become a member of it, and if we 

 give the matter a very little thought 

 we will find that, with a verj' few ex- 

 ceptions, the men who hold aloof are 

 back numbers in the trade. You will 

 find that the brainiest and most pro- 

 gressive men in the business today are 

 members of the Rose, the Carnation, 

 the Chrysanthemum, or some other so- 

 ciety devoted to their specialty. An 

 orchid society is now being projected 

 as a necessary adjunct to the orchid 

 business. Read the printed matter on 

 the back of the Rose Society's letter 

 paper and j'ou will find "Its aim is to 

 increase the general interest in the 

 cultivation and to improve the stand- 

 ard of excellence of the rose for all the 

 people; to foster, stimulate and in- 

 crease the production in every possible 

 way of improved varieties of the rose 

 suitable to our American climate and 



requirements." A very noble aim this 

 surely, and one that should naturally 

 inure to the benefit of every man en- 

 gaged In the growing or selling of 

 roses for a living. The annual exhibi- 

 tions, affording as they do to raisers 

 of new roses the very liest opportunity 

 of getting their novelties before a 

 critical tribimal, and the opportunity 

 offered the searchers for novelties to 

 see these and judge of their merit is 

 a very important feature of the work 

 of such societies; and the man who 

 follows up these exhibitions and has 

 the judgment to discern the good and 

 bad points of both new and old varie- 

 ties, and will gauge his planting ac- 

 cordingly, discarding the varieties that 

 have become old and common and giv- 

 ing space to newer sorts of undoubted 

 merit, is the man who will have money 

 to build more greenhouses and buy 

 automobiles. Very few of the visitors 

 to the Washington or Boston exhibi- 

 tion returned home without receiving 

 inspiration to .strive for a hi.gher grade 

 of flowers as the product of his skill, 

 with the feeling of satisfaction with 

 his calling, and with a determination 

 to add dignity to it. and to make his 

 business stand for something in the 

 community. 



The Work Ahead. 



The Rose Society certainly claims a 

 share in the good work of making con- 

 ditions more favorable for the i-ose 

 grower of today. What has been done 

 up to the present, however, is as noth- 

 ing compared to the w.ork that lies be- 

 fore it when with increased membership 

 and available funds it is in a position 

 to disseminate knowled.ge that will en- 

 able lovers of the rose, and that in- 

 cludes practically every citizen of this 

 country, to plant varieties, and culti- 

 vate them in such a way as to give joy 

 and satisfaction to the planter. There 

 will then be sold by the nurseryman 

 and florist for outdoor planting m.ore 

 roses than we can at present conoeivs 

 of, and the prophecy will be fulfilled: 

 "The desert place shall rejoice and 

 blossom as the rose." 



More has been done during the term 

 of our present secretary to put the so- 

 ciety upon a sound and permanent ba- 

 sis, and to present its claims and bene- 

 fits to the florists of the entire coun- 

 try, and to many who do not grow 

 roses for a living than most of you are 

 aware of. the volume of correspond- 



