882 



HORTICULTURE 



Manch 2:J, i:in7 



they will have the very best results 

 with the latter. Ardent lovers of 

 flowers will be glad to learn that. For 

 those who are too busy or don't care, 

 the own root plants I admit may be 

 better, but I believe it is only fair to 

 Btate to the amateur the difference be- 

 tween the two, 



If the roses are budded low, the 

 stock eyes removed before planting 

 and ihe roses planted good and deep, 

 comparatively little sucker trouble 

 will be encountered, and I for one 

 shall want budded plants wherever 1 

 have something to say in this matter 

 of choice. 



The planting of one year roses, 

 which if not especially advocated is at 

 least widely advertised, is all right as 

 far as it goes, but it must to a certain 

 extent be misleading and disappointing 

 to many amateur rose growers. The 

 offer of one dozen rose plants for $1.00 

 guaranteed to bloom the first year 

 from June to October is certainly very 

 attractive and tempting, but if this 

 one dollar is the extent of the avail- 

 able funds for such investment, I 

 would advise my customer to take 4 

 or 6 two-year old budded plants, plant 

 them wider apart, be satisfied with a 

 few flowers the first year and get the 

 benefit of better and more blooms for- 

 ever afterward. 



The one-year old plants, which have 

 been planted close, will, if they grow, 

 crowd each other in no time and con- 

 sequently should be transplanted the 

 second or third year at the latest, 

 which in most cases is not done. If 

 they don't grow it is because the soil 

 to which they have been transferred 

 out of the pots is not congenial, and 

 the plant in itself is not of sutficient 

 vigorous stock to overcome this 

 change of soil texture and quality. 

 Yet the buyer has planted them as di- 

 rected — in any ordinary soil. The two- 

 year old plant will fare better and give 

 much more return in every case. 



Before I leave the subject of one- 

 year old plants I want to ask the 

 question whether it is not a fact that 

 those plants on their own roots arc 

 mostly winter cuttings from more or 

 less continually forced stock, and 

 some of them second cuttings from 

 rooted cuttings in the bench? If so, 

 can it be reasonably expected that 

 plants so produced will attain the 

 vigor, productive quality and sustain- 

 ing strength and hardiness so essen- 

 tial to outdoor culture? If not, is it 

 not more or less a fraud on the public 

 justifying the saying, "Cheap cloth, 

 tools or help are too dear at any 

 price." I claim that all own-root roses 

 Intended for outdoor culture should 

 come from soft or hardwood cuttings 

 from outdoor plants. I say, propagate 

 from good stock and offer good stock 

 if you want to grow good roses and 

 satisfy and retain your customers. 



As already stated, I am not an ex- 

 pert rose grower and don't pretend to 

 be, but I believe that here as else- 

 where the underlying principle in se- 

 curing good results, is good structural 

 foundation. It is so evident that prop- 

 agation from continuously forced 

 plant stock and through too soft-wood 

 means degeneration and deterioration 

 of quality and strength that I need not 

 dwell on this subject any longer. The 

 best proof of this statement is the 

 rapid degeneration of so many varie- 

 ties used for forcing for a period of 



ten or even less years, compared with 

 the same varieties grown outdoors 

 and propagated from outdoor plants. 

 There is one thing the buyer of budded 

 plants is pretty sure of, and that is he 

 need not fear to get in his purchased 

 plants, the weak degenerated blood 

 which he is apt to get by buying own 

 root plants, and so-called slips. 



To discuss such matters is the prin- 

 cipal purpose of our gatherings. The 

 question has been put by our Execu- 

 tive Committee, "What can the A. R. 

 S. do to help the lovers of roses and 

 the members of the society?" There 

 are many ways of accomplishing the 

 same purpose, provided said purpose is 

 clearly defined and understood. To 

 benefit the lover and amateur grower 

 of roses, we must reach him outdoors. 

 We must stimulate and advocate out- 

 door culture, and educate those we 

 reach with our pleas, To benefit the 

 amateur means to benefit the growers. 



To encourage outdoor rose culture, I 

 would suggest that we work aloug the 

 following lines: 



1. Suggest and advocate through 

 our trade papers and through all 

 other possible means the introduction 

 of public rose gardens in public 

 parks; not only in the large cities, but 

 everywhere. Such gardens could be 

 inaugurated and helped along through 

 donations of plants by local growers 

 and dealers, and where the experi- 

 enced gardener is missing, help along 

 this line might be furnished through 

 the same sources. 



2. Let the florist clubs and other 

 kindred societies of the countr.v ar- 

 range for free lectures, giving the pub- 

 lic plain, true and comprehensive in- 

 struction and information on the sub- 

 ject, and have, if possible, a rose show 

 connected with the lecture. 



3. Let each rose grower or nursery- 

 man establish a small rose garden in 

 which he practises good culture; let 

 him arrange for a rose show of his 

 own and invite his customers near and 

 far to his grounds when the plants are 

 at their best. 



4. Let the A. R. S. direct, or through 

 local florists' clubs award prizes in 

 medals or certificates to amateur 

 rose growers for good cultures. 



5. Would it be possible for the A. 

 R. S to establish somewhere in the 

 Middle States in connection with a 

 Horticultural College or a reputable 

 commercial establishment, an experi- 

 ment station or trial ground, where 

 new introductions could be tested to 

 their true value from all points. 



6. Would it be possible to have in 

 that case a semi-annual convention at 

 that trial garden, or could not at least 

 a standing committee on novelties or 

 the Executive Committee meet there 

 every year in .lune to pass judgment 

 on such plants as may be on exhibition 

 there, and would not such reports be 

 of great value to the grower as well 

 as the amateur? 



These are questions and ideas that 

 have occurred to me during my serv- 

 ices as a park-man for the last few 

 years, and I beg to submit them to you 

 for consideration and discussion. I 

 know that every rose successfully 

 planted and grown brings roses, 

 smiles and happiness to some heart 

 and makes it better, and I love to 

 work with you all as a gardener in 

 this garden of usefulness and uplift- 

 ing happiness. 



AN IDEAL IN ROSE RAISING. 



A paper read before the American Rose 

 Society by E. G. Hill. 



Your president and executive com- 

 mittee have suggested as a subject for 

 my paper "The advisability of having 

 an ideal in mind when attempting to 

 raise new and improved varieties of 

 roses." 



It would have been better if you had 

 selected some one to prepare this pa- 

 per who has had a broader and more 

 extended experience bearing upon this 

 particular line of work than myself; it 

 is a subject full of interest, of mystery 

 and of elusive leadings, and of which 

 I am free to confess I have very little 

 exact knowledge. The more I have 

 tried to inquire into the laws govern- 

 ing cross-fertilization the more sur- 

 prised I have been at the very little 

 tangible knowledge possessed by plant 

 growers, for it would seem that after 

 generations of attempts at crossing 

 that we should find much more accur- 

 ate information at hand, and at least 

 a few formulas which might be fol- 

 lowed with some certainty. 



These, however, are not yet at hand, 

 but that is no occasion for discourage- 

 ment, for of one thing I am convinced, 

 there are underlying laws which guide 

 to certain results, and while at pres- 

 ent we are only groping toward them 

 in the dark, patient persistence will 

 finally give us our working theorem 

 which will prevent the present waste 

 of utterly haphazard effort, and reduce 

 it to a science and an ait at least ap- 

 proaching the exact. Nature does 

 finally reward the painstaking investi- 

 gator, and she does reveal enough con- 

 cerning her manners and methods to 

 give incentive to those who would 

 know her better. 



I should say, by all means, have an 

 ideal in mind when attempting the 

 production of a new variety of rose 

 through the medium of cross-fertiliza- 

 tion. In fact, the ideal is persistently 

 forced upon the working florist by the 

 very shortcomings of his every-day fa- 

 vorites; the amateur may please his 

 fancy, and delight himself with the 

 odd and curious results of haphazard 

 work, and there is much pure pleasure 

 to be derived from it; but the florist, 

 with al,l his love and reverence for the 

 beautiful in nature, has a sterner pur- 

 pose in view; the rose has descended 

 to commercialism: the rose grower 

 must raise it to a pinnacle of perfection 

 where it can dominate its special line 

 of commerce, without apology for any 

 weakness. And it must be confessed 

 at the present time that the usefulness 

 and the proflt of nearly every variety 

 of commercial rose is greatly impaired 

 by some serious drawback to its reli- 

 ability; to eradicate these faults in 

 the parent is impossible: to produce a 

 seedling that shall retain the good 

 points of the parent with the weakness 

 eliminated is well worth working for; 

 this, then, forms an ideal; definiteness 

 of purpose in any line of activity is 

 essential to results; and quite as im- 

 portant as the ideal, is the working 

 plan which must be formulated to 

 attain the end in view. 



Some years ago I began working on 

 red roses, hoping to secure something 

 better than Meteor, Teplitz and Litta, 

 all fine in their way, though stubborn 

 material in the hands of the rose- 

 fancier; my initial work was beguu 

 with these varieties, and only after a 

 good lapse of time have results been 



