174 PACIFIC STATES FLORAL CONGRESS. 



ardent rays of the sun, the long days of June, in the longest of which the 

 dark is hut a brief respite, give the size, the delicacy, and at the same 

 time the richness of coloring and of shading to roses grown in Oregon 

 that different conditions can not produce. These climatic conditions 

 do not apply only to its roses, for they give to the women of Oregon the 

 finest of complexions. 



Artificial conditions can not give to roses grown in the open the per- 

 fection that natural conditions produce. 



IRRIGATION OF ROSE-BUSHES. 



For be it known that as man can not live by bread alone, neither can 

 a rose thrive nor produce the best results simply by supplying it with 

 water. Irrigation can make a rose grow where it could not otherwise 

 live. But when nature irrigates with rain, it has cloudy skies and other 

 gentle aids and conditions which are lacking, and often badly lacking, 

 where the sky for days is almost cloudless and the air and wind are dry, 

 if not hot. Irrigation under such circumstances is supplying one, only, 

 of the many necessaries for a rose's development and beauty. 



In Portland I often see the anxious but ignorant strivers for beauti- 

 ful roses, day after day watering their bushes in May and June, as 

 though each bush were a calla or other swamp plant, and who wonder 

 why their roses bloom so poorly. Too much water is even worse for a 

 rose-bush's health than too little. Either affects the health of a bush, 

 and renders it subject to rose diseases and pests. Mildew will not attack 

 a rose-bush of good vitality, and the aphis is found only on bushes with 

 vitiated sap. 



I have found by many years of continuous experience that in Oregon 

 roses thrive better and bloom better without irrigation during the spring 

 and early summer. The usual rainfall is ordinarily sufficient. If the 

 season is unusually dry, it may be better to irrigate occasionally, but if 

 one does irrigate, the roots should be soaked. In the dryest weather 

 once in a week or ten days is sufficient, Of course, I speak of roses 

 which are well established not of bushes recently planted, which must 

 sometimes be watered in dry weather to keep them alive. 



I am an amateur rose grower. I do all the work on my four hun- 

 dred rose-bushes, except putting on the manure for the winter cover- 

 ing, and digging up the ground in the spring. I let no gardener plant 

 my bushes or prune them. My garden is near the center of Portland, 

 but I put on my working-clothes, to the surprise of dudes, and I work 

 for hours at a time as a gardener does. I do this for recreation and 

 exercise and for the pleasure roses give me. I am more than satisfied 

 with the results. 



