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OCTOBBB 7. 1920 



The Florists' Review 



19 



TOTTY TALKS ON TRAVELS 



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EUBOPEAN OBSERVATIONS. 



Climatic Difference. 



Most Americans visiting Europe are 

 highly enthusiastic about the roses they 

 see growing in Great Britain and 

 France. It must be remembered that 

 it is the climatic difference and condi- 

 tions which make possible much of this 

 fancied superiority. For instance, in 

 our hot summer weather the lovely bud 

 of early morning is the full-blown 

 flower of midday, more or less wilted 

 and gone by night. What do we find in 

 Europe? The growth is much slower; 

 therefore, the bud develops much more 

 petalage and substance, which makes 

 for increased depth and size in the 

 flower. Southern France, it is true, 

 shows conditions much more resembling 

 our conditions here, but in a recent 

 visit to Ireland, the first week in 

 August, I found that the first flow- 

 ers on maiden trees of many varieties 

 were just developing and the flowers, 

 when grown under this cool condition, 

 were twice as large as flowers on the 

 same varieties in the United States. 

 The importer of novelties will often be 

 fooled until he has made several trips 

 to Europe, familiarizing himself with 

 the local conditions. 



Different Culture. 



Dickson's, the place to which I re- 

 ferred a minute ago, won three gold 

 medals, the week I was in Belfast, in 

 different shows in Great Britain, be- 

 sides numerous first prizes. It is true, 

 their stock is fine. It is also true, they 

 have many seedlings not available to 

 the average cultivator, but their chief 

 superiority lay in their climatic condi- 

 tions, which brought the buds along 

 slowly and permitted them to grow 

 much larger and have more substance 

 than when grown in a warmer climate. 

 Regarding climbing varieties — Ameri- 

 can Pillar, for instance, well known to 

 all of us — Mr. Dickson told me that the 

 individual flowers would last an entire 

 month in the open air. This is one ad- 

 vantage they have in practically all 

 parts of the British isles. They can 

 enjoy the wonderful climbing roses all 

 season, while here we can only enjoy 

 them in June, and then they have hard- 

 ly any blooms the rest of the season. 



Of course, in planting our roses we 

 economize as much as possible on time 

 and labor, while the European takes 

 every care and effort to have them 

 planted properly, taking out, for in- 

 stance, the soil to a depth of about two 

 feet and filling in the rose beds with a 

 mixture of broken pots, pieces of char- 

 coal and decomposed cow manure, 

 which is what I saw being done in one 

 establishment where I was. While not 

 decrying its merits in the least, it would 

 be almost impossible for us to do it 

 here on account of the exorbitant 

 wage scale and other handicaps. 

 At the Bagatelle Gardens. 



The most interesting place to me 

 from the rose standpoint was the rose 

 gardens at Bagatelle. These gardens 

 are located in the Pare d 'Bagatelle, 

 and an extensive test is given all new 



An address by Charles H. Totty, of Madison, 

 N. J., entitled, "Some European Obserrations 

 Regarding Roses in 1920," delivered before the 

 meeting of the American Rose Society, New 

 York, September 29, 1920. 



varieties from any country under the 

 supervision, to a certain extent, of the 

 French government. These plants for 

 testing are carefully planted and an 

 award made to the ones showing up the 

 most meritorious from the outside cul- 

 tivator's point of view. I had hoped 

 to be in France in time for the judging 

 this year, but failed on account of delay 

 in the sailing of the steamer and the 

 fact that the roses had come along 

 more rapidly this year than usual. The 

 roses were scored June 10. As a gen- 

 eral rule, it is June 20 to 23 before they 

 are in suitable condition. 



The variety awarded the first prize 

 this year was Souvenir de Claudius 



The Editor is pleased when 

 a Reader presents his ideas 

 on any subject treated in 



As experience is the best 

 teacher, so do we learn 

 fastest by an exchange of 

 experiences. Many valuable 

 points are brou^t out by 

 discussion. 



Good penmanship, spellins and 

 grammar, though desirable, are not 

 necessary. Write as you would talk 

 when doing your best. 



WE SHALL BE GLAD 

 TO HEAR FROM YOU 



Pernet, a variety named in honor of 

 the eldest son of M. Pernet-Ducher. Of 

 course, all rose growers will be sorry 

 to hear that Mr. Pernet lost his two 

 sons in the recent war. On account of 

 this terrible loss he has suffered, M. 

 Pernet has lost much of the incentive 

 he had to carry on his work for the 

 future. Judging from what I saw of 

 this new variety at the time of my visit 

 in June, Souvenir de Claudius Pernet 

 looks as though it would be a fine rose 

 for our gardens in this country. The 

 color is much deeper than that of Con- 

 stance, which it much resembles, but 

 persists right to the edge of the petals. 

 The petals, too, are heavier than those 

 of Constance, and at the time I saw 

 the plant, July 6, there were several 

 flowers fully developed on it. 



Famous Yellow Boses. 



M. Pernet is well known for the 

 splendid yellow roses he has given us 

 in the past, including Mme. Colette 

 Martinet, Mrs. Aaron Ward and Sun- 

 burst. Another popular variety which 

 he originated was Mme. Edouard Her- 

 riot. Another variety that was 

 awarded a certificate by the interna- 



tional jurors was President Parmen- 

 tier, exhibited by Sauvageot. This va- 

 riety greatly resembles Herriot in 

 color, but is much superior in habit. 

 Comtesse de Gassagne was also 

 awarded a certificate. This is a light 

 pink in color with a suffusion of yellow 

 at the base of the petals. There were 

 several varieties there from Howard & 

 Smith, of Los Angeles, Cal., but hard- 

 ly in shape at the tiipe I was there to be 

 given a fair and iirfpartial judgment. 



The seedlings are already on the 

 ground for 1921 competition and are 

 quite extensive. A prominent variety 

 of M. Pernet 's is named after his 

 other son, Georges Pernet, which, if it 

 keeps up in the shape it was in this 

 year, will come near winning the medal 

 in 1921. Another fine variety by the 

 same grower is Capt. Georges Dessirier, 

 a brilliant scarlet. 



Some ten French growers are repre- 

 sented, four or five from England, sev- 

 eral from Ireland and three from Hol- 

 land, all of which we shall doubtless 

 hear from in due season. 



In Paris Shops. 



The roses I saw in the Paris flower 

 shops were somewhat of a disappoint- 

 ment to me, as they consisted almost 

 entirely of Her Majesty, a well known 

 light pink, and Juliet. We should hard- 

 ly consider either of these a good com- 

 mercial variety in America, but ar- 

 ranged as the French had them, with 

 different foliage of the purple beech, 

 golden alder and other variegated foli- 

 age, they look exceedingly well. 



I did not see any flowers of the re- 

 doubtable American varieties, Colum- 

 bia and Premier, as the French grow- 

 ers have not yet planted them. This, 

 of course, is readily explained, as the 

 war prevented the importation of any 

 horticultural material for several years 

 into France. This also obtains in the 

 case of the cut flowers in the London 

 market, though I have no doubt the 

 next year or two one will find both 

 Columbia and Premier well represented 

 over there. 



The European way of exhibiting 

 roses is not fair to the man who is look- 

 ing for information regarding their 

 habits or growth. The flowers are ex- 

 hibited on boards with short stems of 

 just a few inches and are often wired 

 in addition, so that no one can form 

 /any opinion whatever regarding their 

 ( habits or foliage unless he visits the 

 \iurseries and sees them grswing in dif- 

 ferent parts of the country. 



British Conditions. 



It is remarkable, considering the ex- 

 cessive moisture in the climate of 

 Great Britain, that the rose plants are 

 not eaten up with mildew, but I pre- 

 sume this is on account of the tempera- 

 ture not being hot. I was in Great 

 Britain for twenty days and during 

 that period there was only one day we 

 did not have rain. This was, it must 

 be remembered, in July and August, 

 when, if at any time, the weather 

 should be propitious, and yet the rose 

 blooms opened in magnificent condition 

 every morning, minding apparently 



