478 



horticulture: 



March 26, 1910 



AMERIC AN ROSE SOCIETY 



Annual Meeting in New York City 



Next Meeting in Boston^ March 1911 — Officers Elected: President^ 



Wm, H. Elliott; Vice-President, A. Farenwald; Secretary, Benj* 



Hammond; Treasurer, Harry O. May 



In an evil hour the telegraph com- 

 "pany "went bacic" on us and a des- 

 patch from the scene of activity got 

 sidetracked, so we were unable to an- 

 nounce in our notes of last week the 

 names of officers elected and other de- 

 tails of Thursday's proceedings in New 

 York. 



The first thing after the addresses 

 and reports of officers and other rou- 

 tine work at the opening ses- 

 sion on Thursday forenoon, 

 was the selection of meet- 

 ing place for 1911. Wallace 

 R. Pierson of Cromwell, 

 ■Conn., and P. Welch of Bos- 

 ton, presented Boston's claims 

 so well that the New England 

 metropolis was unanimously 

 selected and the time of the 

 National Flower Show in that 

 <;ity was agreed on as the 

 date. 



Then came the election of 

 officers, resulting as follows, 

 all by unanimous votes: — 

 President, Wm. H. Elliott, 

 Brighton, Mass.; vice-presi- 

 dent, A. Farenwald, Roslyn, 

 Pa.; secretary, Benj. Ham- 

 mond, Fishkill, N. Y.; treas- 

 urer, Harry O. May, Summit, 

 N. J. 



The secretary was instruct- 

 ed to prepare a fitting memor- 

 ial to be sent to the family of 

 the late Mrs, Gertrude M. 

 Hubbard, a friend of the So- 

 ciety. Interesting papers, as 

 provided in the program were 

 read. 



In our report on the ex- 

 hibition in last week's issue, 

 we credited Clement Moore as 

 winner of first prize for speci- 

 men cattleya. F. L. Moore 

 was the lucky gentleman. 



Among the exhibits not 

 mentioned in our previous re- 

 port were the following: — 

 Siebrecht & Sons, specimen 

 palms; A. L. Miller, group of daisies 

 .and pansies; F. C. Gully of Ramsay's, 

 N. J., fine antirrhinums and Beauty 

 of Nice stocks; W. H. Waite, Cytisus 

 pra;cox and hippeastrums; The Rosary 

 Company, designs of violets and Den- 

 .drobium Wardianum, in form of lady's 

 hat and fan. 



a rose grower, no poet, so I tried to 

 wriggle out of it; but the powers that 

 be wanted me to stick to the gun, and 

 as I am an enthusiastic member of this 

 society, and a lover of roses as well 

 as a grower, I consented. 



I shall now do my best to honor the 

 Queen of Flowers. If I fall short, you 



THE ROSE THE BRIGHTEST OF 



FLOWERS. 



A paper read before the American Uose 

 Society by Adolph Farenwald. 



When I received word to write a 

 paper on the above subject, I felt that 

 it was sent to the wrong man. I am 



W. H. Elliott 



I'resideut-elect, American Rose Society. 



must remember that I am only a rose 

 grower, not a poet. Of course, there 

 are other flowers in the race, such as 

 orchids, carnations, violets, and a host 

 of others "also ran." They are all 

 beautiful; they all fill their places, but 

 which one has sufficient popularity to 

 fill the place of queen? With its ex- 

 quisite form, its graceful carriage, its 

 thousands of different hues of color, 

 coupled with the grandest foliage im- 

 aginable, we see in it the embodiment 

 of all that is beautiful in the king- 

 dom of flowers. For ages the poets 

 have sung their praise of its charms. 

 The composer has put to music what 

 stirred his soul when face to face with 

 its matchless beauty. Innumerable 



times the painter has tried to copy its 

 wonderful forms and colors. 



Our Queen is the object of our fond- 

 est affections as well as of our deepest 

 sympathy. Her mission is varied, fit- 

 ting all occasions and all lives. Her 

 bright coloring and delicate perfume 

 are silent messengers of comfort and 

 cheer to the sick in body and soul. 

 She also brings to the memory of most 

 of us thought of the long ago 

 — "the days of love and 

 roses." No human being can 

 resist the charms of our 

 Queen, no matter how lowly 

 his station or how crude his 

 ideas of beauty. 



Truly, fellow members, no 

 nobler profession exists than 

 ours — the rose grower's, 

 whose everlasting patience 

 and skill tries to improve on 

 Mother Nature. To think that 

 we send every day to thous- 

 ands and thousands of homes 

 these messengers of love and 

 cheer. No, we need not be 

 afraid of any other flower 

 taking the place of our be- 

 loved Queen as long as we 

 l;eep on producing and im- 

 I>roving in the future as we 

 have done in the past, to 

 which fact the present exhi- 

 bition now being held in this 

 hall testifies. 



All growers of roses are 

 rose lovers. Whether they 

 produce the flowers for com- 

 mercial purposes, or simply 

 for pleasure, the aim is one 

 — perfection. A few weeks 

 ago T said publicly in Phila- 

 delphia that the carnation 

 was pushing hard for first 

 place. Of course, we know 

 the carnation has its charms, 

 but the rose is its superior, 

 and always will be. It is 

 simply the fact that its pro- 

 ducers, as a class, are put- 

 ting forth their best efforts. But, if 

 all rose growers should strive as hard 

 what marvelous results might be ob- 

 tained! 



The Rose Society has a motto — "A 

 bush for every garden, a rose for every 

 home." It is to educate the masses of 

 our people to the point of appreciating 

 the value of the rose as a means of 

 culture, so that in the future men will 

 discuss with each other the merits of 

 their several rose gardens, and com- 

 pare notes on the different varieties. 

 In the spring time, before leaving in 

 the morning for their places of busi- 

 ness in the dark and dusty cities, they 

 will take a run into their gardens 

 and receive an inspiration from the 



