HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



appreciation is on the wane. The European horticulturist who hopes to 

 meet the wants of the American market should place this fact before him 

 above all others, purity and brilliancy of colour; then having attained that 

 he must put it on to a plant that is of itself beautiful. In all the popular 

 flowers the foliage is regarded as of nearly equal value with the flowers itself. 

 To give you a concrete example, I will quote from a communication ot 

 one of our most prominenti ntroducers of foreign Chrysanthemums. "A 

 novelty should first of all have a good habit, the foliage should be luxuriant 

 and carried right up to the flower, and the stem should be stout enough to 

 carry the flower erect on a stalk three feet in length, the flower itself large, 

 of incurved form and of sufficient solidity to withstand shipping and hand- 

 ling. As individuals the flowers grown for European markets and shipped 

 in bunches (having had but little disbudding)) find no place with us. The 

 ideal flower is one that answers the requirements when grown one flower to 

 a stem." 



In roses there are two distinct ideals; one by far the larger interest, 

 that of growing under glass, the flowers being forced for Winter, is charac- 

 terized by a long bud, bright colour, freedom of growth, so that a flower can 

 be cut with a good length of stem, not less than two to three feet, and pre- 

 ferably one that lights up well under artificial light. The five best Roses in 

 the New York cut flower market are the following in the order named: 

 American Beauty, The Richmond, Bridesmaid, Madame Abel Chatenay, and 

 the Bride. The other type of roses which has been developed very greatly 

 in our country is for outdoor planting. We want a type of roses that will 

 stand our hot Sun and cold Winters, and flower continually from June to 

 November in quantity, self-brilliant colour preferred; the best type of a 

 recently introduced rose which I can give you is Killarney. We want rose 

 plants that will be decorative and ornamental, even when out of flower, as 

 trellis plants. The newer ramblers are much valued, and where they are 

 suitable for forcing in pots for flowering at Easter time for indoor decor- 

 ation they are still more desirable. 



Very few American amateurs are connoisseurs of the rose in the way 

 that the European horticulturists are. We cannot conduct a Rose society 

 along the lines that are so successful in European countries. The com- 

 mercial standard is introduced, and no matter how beautiful a flower may 

 be of itself, if it does not hold its colour properly, and if it does not fulfil 

 its decorative requirements of rigid stem and healthy, abundant foliage, it 

 cannot find favour with the American. 



With these specific instances of ideals in the most popular flowers of the 

 day I may leave the subject, reiterating that the American market stands 

 wide open to any flower or plant which will meet these high ideals, but that 

 it is no place for the curio raiser to send his productions, as there is no 

 demand for a thing purely on the ground of intrinsic novelty. 



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