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II (> U'l' 1 (" r I.T V II R 



April 8, i;tin 



AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY 



i 



ulrrss o( President S. S. Pcnnock .it Aiimi.il Mcctiny 



Phil.-idf Iphi.i. 



Mi'iiilurs 111 llii' AiuiTUiin Kcisv Suit 

 ety: 

 Another year has rolled by iiiid we 

 a(;ain meet In annual session, this 

 time under most favorable conditions, 

 holdini; our show and meetlnRS In 

 conjunction with the Fourth National 

 Flower Show. kIvIuk the American 

 Kose Society an iinpelus and uplift 

 that will be far reaching, making for 

 the future of the Society. 



Thi.s show, 1 feel sure everyone will 

 agree with me. is not only the largest 

 and most beautiful, but the best and 

 most complete ever held in this coun- 

 try. 



I am going to say to you. and not 

 boastfully either, that the Anieriian 

 Rose Society is taking no small jiart 

 in making this show the success it is. 

 for you will. I know, after viewing 

 the plants, cut flowers, rose gardens 

 and other exhibits, feel it Is not only 

 an honor but a privilege to be a mem- 

 ber. 



These shows, whether a national 

 flower show, an annual rose show, or 

 an amateur show in June of outdoor 

 roses, mean more to the futvire of the 

 rose than any other medium the Rose 

 Society can foster and encourage. A 

 show iike this creates a love for flow- 

 ers; flowers from the flower store in 

 winter, flowers from the garden in the 

 summer, flowers for every flower lover 

 for every day in the year and that is 

 what we want to encourage. 



For some years the Society has 

 gone along mostly on commercial lines 

 and as such it has appealed to the 

 commertial man more than to the 

 amateur. The rose industry of this 

 country is a large industry and must 

 not be lost sight of— at the same time, 

 the amateur is another ijhase that 

 cannot be lost sight of and the ama- 

 teur rosarian is becoming more and 

 more of a factor each year. Not only 

 is his work a benefit and an inspira- 

 tion to the commercial man. but it Is 

 popularizing the rose as no other 

 means can or will and the amateur, T 

 feel, is the one we must look mostly 

 to in increasing our membership and 

 bringing the society up to a .standard 

 and more on a level with the National 

 Rose Society of England, which has a 

 membership of over enoii, and is a 

 flourishing society. 



1 want to make a strong appeal for 

 the amateur, believing a large ama- 

 teur membership is the only way we 

 can bring the society to that state of 

 efficiency which every member, wheth- 

 er active or associate, wishes it to 

 attain. 



A month ago I had a visit from Dr. 

 Robt. Huey about this very amateur 

 business, and. by the way. Dr. Huey 

 ceased being a member of this Soci- 

 ety on account of its offering the 

 amateur so little, but glad to say he 

 is again with us. He brought with 

 him a letter from W. E. Davis, a rose 

 enthusiast of New Haven, with a very 

 strong appeal for the amateur in our 

 Society, asking that this matter be 

 taken up in a vigoro\is manner at our 

 annual meeting. 



li;ivc with U8 today a number of 

 nil luOers who wo will be glad to hear 

 from later, members who are recog- 

 nized authorities on roses. I think 

 with the assistance and the material 

 wf have among our menilierB, there Is 

 iKi doubt we can map out a rainpaign 

 that will give such value to every 

 member that we will have no trouble 

 in securing new members and let us 

 hope this time next year we will have 

 a membership of more than a thou- 

 sand. 



Publicity. 



Along tlie lines of publicity we are 

 doing all the society at this time can 

 do financially, and believe for what 

 money we are spending we are getting 

 splendid results. An increased mem- 

 bership and a better treasury balance 

 will enable us to offer our members 

 more in the way of literature and gen- 

 eral rose information, giving them 

 such value that they will feel an in- 

 crease in associate membershiii dues 

 in the next few years will be thorough- 

 ly justified, so let every member, 

 whether active or associate, strive to 

 help our publicity campaign, to in- 

 crease the membership, and give us a 

 society worth while. 



I note with pleasure that we are 

 having more societies afhliating witli 

 us each year. I believe it is only a 

 matter of time when a great many of 

 those affiliated members will not feel 

 satisfied to be simply affiliated mem- 

 bers but will want to be something 

 more, either an associate or active 

 member. Should not the secretary of 

 each affiliated society have a voice in 

 the Rose Society the same as an active 

 member? 1 make this as a recom- 

 mendation. These affiliated members 

 will mean new friends who will join 

 with the old in making this society a 

 tower of strength, and make it truly 

 national in scope and character as well 

 as in name. 



Another point in publicity; we be- 

 lieve our friends, the rose cata- 

 log men. could be instrumental in 

 bringing in new members in large 

 numbers, by making mention of the 

 Rose Society in their catalog, setting 

 forth its aims and purposes — points 

 that would appeal to the amateur. 



Rose Annual. 



This year's Rose Annual, which has 

 been so ably edited by .1. Horace Mc- 

 F'arland, is not only a credit to the so- 

 ciety, but as well a treatise on roses 

 invaluable to every member, both the 

 commercial and amateur rosarian, and 

 will, we are sure, make for new mem- 

 bers wherever it goes, and add new- 

 life to our society. 



In circulating the Annual, It will 

 only go with a membership, either life, 

 active, associate or affiliated. We feel 

 the Annual too valuable a book to be 

 sold just as an edition, and it should 

 be well worth the price of membership 

 in the society. In the annual each year 

 the aim will be to give to our mem- 

 bers literature that will be an inspira- 

 tion and a real help to them, articles 



from the |>en8 of rocoinilcod authorl- 

 tli-H, niakliig it a book to be troasiired 

 and kept as a roHc authority. 

 Test Garden!. 



liic American IIobu Sixlety, in es- 

 iiilillHhing teKt gardeiiH In various 

 piirtH of the rnlted StateH, is working 

 out u feature that will become a mOBt 

 valuable and far reaching UHBCt to 

 rose growing. These tent gardens are 

 now firmly eHtablished In Wuslilnglon, 

 In Hartford, at Cornell fniverslty 

 I Ithaca, N. Y.I and In MInneapiillH 



A committee has been a|>polntod to 

 look after and take charge of each 

 garden. The plan in these test gar- 

 dens is to have at least five plants of 

 a kind In the case of teas, and two of 

 a kind In the case of climlicrs, of 

 every known variety that can be ob- 

 tained not only from this country but 

 from foreign parts as well. Accurate 

 records are to be kept as to how they 

 flourish, the climatic conditions, the 

 amount of bloom, and whatever statta- 

 tlcs as to temperature, soil, etc., that 

 may be deemed necessary by the com- 

 mittees in charge. 



.\ny one contemplating the growing 

 (if a certain variety — for instance. In 

 the same climate as Washington — 

 iiiight refer to the appropriate test 

 garden reports and see how that va- 

 riety has done, whether It was hardy, 

 wiiether It was able to stand the hot 

 summer, and so on. These records, as 

 summarized each year in the Annual, 

 will become invaluable. 



These test gardens as they will be 

 established from time to time In the 

 various cities of the United States 

 and Canada will make one of the many 

 interesting features fostered by the 

 Kose Society. 



Scale for Judging Outdoor Roses. 

 The official scale of points for judg- 

 ing outdoor roses as adopted by the 

 Rose Society some years ago, has been 

 thought by some of our rose enthu- 

 siasts to be insufficient and not cover- 

 ing the ground completely. Dr. Huey, 

 Jesse A. Currey and Geo. C. Thomas, 

 Jr., have had some correspondence on 

 this subject and have made up a scale 

 of points which they consider makes 

 a better scale to judge by. This will 

 later be reported on. 



Registration of Roses. 



Accurate registration of roses is a 

 very important matter. We can go 

 back only a few years and find in- 

 romplete and at times very inaccurate 

 records of roses of American origin. 

 The Department of Agricullure at 

 Washington has under way the com- 

 piling of a record of roses of Ameri- 

 can origin and sjiorts, and. with the 

 registration as kept by the American 

 Rose Society, we believe we will have 

 records better and more accurate than 

 could be gotten together in any other 

 way. 



Renaming of Roses. 



The renaming of roses, whether of 

 American or foreign origin, is to my 

 mind a pernicious habit, and one that 

 the American Rose Society is not at 

 all in accord with, believing that It 

 does more harm to the rose than good, 

 and with this aim in view the society 

 at one of its executive committee 

 meetings appointed Robt. Simpson, H. 

 O. May and Robt. Pyle, who will make 

 a report at this meeting, and I sin- 



