THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 



tically all their stock, and for this purpose have huge cellars entirely under 

 ground, as a rule, in which they heel in their plants, having men label with 

 lead labels and using their catalogue numbers on every single plant before 

 it is dug. Mr. Lambert does more growing of own root roses than anyone 

 else we met, most growers there, you know, using the budded stock. 



A little side trip from Luxembourg down to Nancy gave a most inter- 

 esting day with M. Lemoine, whose father, at eighty, was lying ill, but 

 whose four young boys, developing splendidly toward manhood, gave prom- 

 ise of more famous Begonias, Deutzias, Lilac, Clematis — in fact one 

 scarcely knows where to stop in speaking of the contributions which have 

 emanated from this rare and interesting establishment. I did not hear 

 that they called him a wizard either, but Victor Lemoine certainly deserves 

 the name, if ever man did, among plantsmen. 



Back to Paris, let us without fail accept the kind invitation of M. 

 Gravereaux for a day in his garden. Take a taxicab. It is a beautiful ride 

 over the hills to an eminence from which the city itself is in view, and 

 here M. Gravereaux, by special permission, is glad to have you come and 

 luxuriate in his truly wonderful rose garden. M. Gravereaux is said to 

 have become a millionaire through his business in the Bon Marche in 

 Paris. Imagine if you can, 6000 or more different varieties of roses, ar- 

 ranged in families and classes, grouped into avenues which are bordered 

 with the climbing roses, banked with the bedding varieties and edged with 

 box and neatly kept paths ; bits of statuary here and there with the sur- 

 prise of a playing fountain as you ttirn a corner; a little thatched roof 

 summer house for a laboratory, with appropriately placed standard tree 

 roses having stems 12 to 15 ft. high and heads of bloom 10 ft. in diameter; 

 everything kept with immaculate neatness and every rose carefully labeled 

 with the name, class, date of origin and catalogue number; and in the 

 center of all a museum in which has been collected not only the documents 

 that are to serve as a history of the rose, but specimens of the products of 

 science and art in which the rose has figured, and also a collection of 

 literature from the Greek, Latin, Arabic, and also the modern languages 

 in which we find mention of the rose. Here indeed one's enthusiasm 

 knows no bounds. We felt filled with the beauty of the place, for it 

 seemed that every rose was in full bloom. The day was a perfect one and 

 the air fragrance-laden. M. Gravereaux was most hospitable and the scene 

 was impressed indelibly upon one's mind. 



You and I must realize that America is as yet in its infancy; still more 

 is it true of rose-growing in America. The time is already here when we 

 need to awaken the interest of the amateur rose-growers of America. 

 Thousands, if not millions, throughout this country of ours, even with its 

 varied climate, might have the pleasure, the inspiration, and the uplift 

 which come from knowing and cultivating the Queen of Flowers. 



The meeting adjourned at 5. George Y. Nash, 



Secretary. 



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