376 



H O 11 T I C U L T U E E 



March 24, 1917 



country, but in Europe as well, I want 

 to read you from a letter of May 26th, 

 1916. from Joseph J. Lane, of the "Gar- 

 den Magazine": 



I liad tile pleasure of being one of thosjc 

 inesent iit the meeting of tbe Anierif.in 

 Itose Society during tlie PliiladelpUia 

 l*'loAver Sliow in I'.tlO. because I joined the 

 Societ.v two or three days before. I tell 

 yoii frankly that the reason I joined the 

 Kose Society was to get a copy of tlic 

 "Hose Annual." anil to affiliate myself -with 

 an organization which was so enthusiastic- 

 ally going about its work. The majority of 

 the horticultural organizations as a rule 

 solicit you for your dues and never think 

 of making any plans for you to get some- 

 thing hack for your money. I am glad to 

 say that in receiviug a coi>y of the "Rose 

 Annual" 1 have received sufficient to pay 

 me for my entire dues. Next year I want 

 yr)u to solicit us good and hard for adver- 

 tising in this book. The "(iarden Maga- 

 zine" and "Country Life in America," also 

 some of our garden books, should be in 

 there, and I will do everything in my 

 power to see that they are. 



The heading of a column and a half 

 article in the "Gardeners Chronicle" 

 of July 8th, 1916— an English publica- 

 tion, starts off in this fashion: 



"THE AMERICAN ROSE ANNUAL."— 

 "The American Rose Society and Mr. Mc- 

 I<"arland, its Editor, are to be congratulated 

 on the issue of the first 'Annual' under the 

 auspices of the Society. This forms a vol- 

 time of some 150 pages, the last ten of 

 which are devoted to accounts of Rose 

 Shows." 



Then it goes on, giving a thorough 

 resume of the book in its many phases. 

 These are but two instances of many, 

 showing how wonderfully the "Annual" 

 of 1916 was received — indeed a volume 

 to be proud of! 



In the late spring of 1916 a fund for 

 research work in rose diseases was 

 started. A liberal response to the call 

 for subscriptions from interested rose- 

 gro-vvers all over the country made it 

 possible for the officers to arrange 

 through Dr. H. H. Whetzel— the pa- 

 thologist of Cornell University — for 

 the employment of Dr. L. M. Massey 

 to undertake the disease study desired. 

 The University itself bears an import- 

 ant part of the cost of the work. 



Dr. Massey began work in the early 

 fall, and his accomplishments up-to- 

 date have been most gratifying, even 

 though it was not expected that there 

 would be any particular result for at 

 least a year. For example: his inves- 

 tigation of, the new trouble which be- 

 sets cut-flower rose growers — a form 

 of crown root-gall — is likely to result 

 in the early checking of a disease 

 which certainly, under previously ex- 

 isting conditions, might easily have 

 put many growers entirely out of busi- 

 ness. It is most important that every 

 grower, particularly the commercial 

 man, should take careful note of the 

 disease. Dr. Massey has also taken up 

 carefully the study of the difficult 

 black-spot, and in the 1917 "Annual" 

 will be found his article bearing on 

 this most important subject. The re- 

 search fund was solicited largely 

 through personal effort, and it is my 

 sincere hope that the subscriptions 

 will be renewed and extended, so that 

 the work may be carried on for an- 

 other year, or as much longer as is 

 necessary to keep the members of the 

 Society fully informed as to rose dis- 

 eases, and as to the best means for 

 combating them. 



The Nursery Trade. 



It seems that here is an opportunity 

 %vhere the nurserymen are not taking 



'I'hf above illustration is a facsimile of a painting by Victor <;illman of New York, pre- 

 sented by him to Mr. Pennock in appreciation of his work as President of the 

 American Hose Society during his two terms of office. 



advantage of their opportunities, in 

 coming in and being represented more 

 strongly in the Society. (President 

 Pennock here quoted from a letter of 

 February 17th, 1917, received from Mr. 

 John Watson, President of the Ameri- 

 can Association of Nurserymen.) 



From this you will see how one of 

 our prominent fellow nurserymen feels 

 not only about the Society, but the in- 

 troducing of new roses of American 

 origin as well. It would not only give 

 me great pleasure, but immense satis- 

 faction to have the nurserymen and 

 their interests more closely allied with 

 the Rose Society, and I hope we may 

 have their fuller support in the future. 



Rose Test Gardens. 

 Our work in the past of the rose- 

 testing gardens is too well known for 

 me to go over it at this time. These 

 test-gardens — I am glad to say — are 

 bringing good results, but not as good 

 as we would like to have in the way 

 of records of how the gardens are be- 

 ing kept up, as these are of great im- 

 portance. These test-gardens are go- 

 ing to be one of the very valuable as- 

 sets of the Society, not only in the 

 actual garden-tests, but in the records 

 of the roses. May we look forward to 

 only a few years hence when every 

 city of any size will take hold and 

 foster a rose-garden such as Portland. 

 Oregon, is undertaking at this time, 

 which is called "The Portland Asso 

 elation National Rose Test Garden" — 

 a wonderful movement not only for 

 Portland, but for the Rose Society, 

 and the rose business in general — 

 which is being backed by such bodies 

 as the chamber of commerce, city 

 councils, and ninety-seven other or- 



ganizations. Think of it — ninety-nine 

 distinct organizations! This spells 

 progress in the broadest sense of the 

 word, and to my mind should be an 

 incentive for every other city in this 

 country. 



I want to read you a quotation from 

 Horticulture of July 15 1916: 



"We heard from a number of places 

 where municipal rose gardens are being 

 established this year, or are being planned. 

 It is only a question of time — and not 

 very long — until a rose garden will he re 

 garded as an indispensable feature of 

 every public park, and private estates gen- 

 erally will follow suit. I'ntil the advent 

 of the hardy hybrid teas and ever-blooming 

 Polyanthas. there was little inducement for 

 the making of rose gardens in the northern 

 and eastern United States. . Now. there is 

 abundant recompense for alt the labor and 

 attention incident to the proper planting 

 and care of the Queen of Flowers, and with 

 prospects as they now appear, the garden 

 rose industry is onl.v in its infancy in this 

 country. In the effort to improve and add 

 to the number of forcing roses. American 

 rosarians have been in the past concentrat- 

 ing all their thoughts on a single ideal, and 

 — no doubt — hundreds of their seedlings 

 have been thrown away because they failed 

 to measure up to the forcing rose standard, 

 which, had they been given an opportunity 

 to qualify, would have proven invaluable 

 as garden varieties. With the rapidly de- 

 veloping demand for tlie latter comes a new' 

 incentive to rose hybridizing in this coun- 

 try, and "we shall be surprised and disap- 

 pointed if American grown varieties do not 

 in the very near future outstrip and out- 

 class for garden use the foreign produc- 

 tions upon which we have been hitlierto 

 so largely dependent." 



Here is a thought for every Ameri- 

 can hybridizer to think over thorough- 

 ly, and possibly make a profit out of 

 a seeming loss, 



Another recommendation which I 

 wish to make is that the editor and 

 advertising manager of the "Annual" 

 be made ex-officio members of the Ex- 

 ecutive f'ommittee. This I think is an 



