';C' 



592 



The Weekly Rorists^ Review* 



August 18, 1904. 



Display of Schloss Bros., New York. 



give us texture of bloom, there could 

 be no doubt but that its offspring would 

 have disease-resisting foliage and a 

 probability of hardiness sufficient to 

 veithstand our winters. This should be 

 tried persistently, using pollen from our 

 best hybrid perpet'uals, hybrid teas and 

 teas, using the rugosa as the seed-bear- 

 ing plant, and, while it would require a 

 long line of crossing and crossing back, 

 I have little doubt but that from this 

 source can finally be secured our cov- 

 eted type, which would supply our 

 northern gardens with an ideal rose. 



Bruant, Cochet, Muller, Wintzer and 

 others have made a start in this direc- 

 tion. We have Bruant 's cross between 

 B. rugosa and Niphetos, named Mme. 

 Georges Bruant. This variety has the 

 lengthened bud of Niphetos, showing 

 distinctly the influence of the tea vari- 

 ety. 



Blanc double de Coubert is a charming 

 shrub for lawn decoration and a most 

 promising subject for cross-fertilization. 

 Conrad F. Meyer is a variety to which 

 has been transmitted much of the full- 

 ness and color of the male parent, which 

 is said to be Gloire de Dijon. Atro- 

 purpurea, one of Geo. Paul's hybrid 

 rugosas, will furnish the dark tints in 

 any color scheme devised or planned. 

 Sir Thomaa Lipton, an American hybrid 

 introduced by Conard & Jones Co., is 

 said to possess many excellent charac- 

 teristics. 



I mention the above believing them to 

 be the most useful of the rugosa hybrids 

 and having made the most distinct 

 breaks from rugosa proper. Other ru- 

 gosa hybrids are Philemon Cochet, Alice 

 Aldrich, Belle Poitevine, Mme. Worth, 

 Calocarpa, Bose Apples. Chedane Guin- 

 noiseau, Christopk* Cochet and Piette 

 Leperdrieux, and these are not all^ 

 They are enumerated to show what has 

 been done witn this type and as a re- 

 minder tint'* the bylfridiet Tie^ not go 

 back to the original but can use some of 

 the fine breaks already made. 



Immunity from Disease. 



I wish to reiterate the previous state- 

 ment, that I firmly believe that immun- 

 ity from the disease known as black- 

 spot must come through an infusion of 

 rugosa blood, and I would further state 



that your essayist is not speaking from 

 practical experience in the matter of 

 crossing the present popular varieties of 

 roses with the rugosas, as his efforts 

 have been more largely made in trying 

 to secure new sorts suitable for forcing 

 under glass. 



Other species of roses may offer as 

 fruitful a field for the hybridist as the 

 rugosa, and why not try what can be 

 done with our native American species? 

 The climbing Prairie types were secured 

 from this source, and they certainly 

 possess hardiness in connection with a 

 fair amount of fullness, two distinct 

 qualities essential to the new type. 



Wichuraiana and Crimson Rambler. 



American hybridists have given \is 

 many charming Wichuraiana crosses and 

 fine results have crowned the efforts of 

 Messrs. Van Fleet, Manda, Walsh, Per- 

 kins and Dawson. The serious question 

 often propounded is, are they liardy? 

 Sometimes they winter perfectly and 

 again an occasional season finds them 

 killed back severely. Your essayist has 

 not had long enough experience with 

 outdoor-grown stock of Dorothy Per- 

 kins, Farquhar, W. C. Egan, Manda 's 

 Triumph and other Wichuraiana crosses 

 to speak with certainty as to their hard- 

 iness, but he believes that it is affirmed 

 of them by their raisers. 



Crimson Bambler is at once the most 

 unique and the most satisfactory rose 

 grown in the northern half of our coun- 

 try. No other rose can dispute with it 

 the right to a first place in general popu- 

 larity with the American people, for 

 porch and pillar purposes. The wide 

 dissemination of the rose, its tremendous 

 sale the present season and the prospec- 

 tive demand for future planting, exceeds 

 that of any otlier ro«» introduced into 

 American gardens. 



Experiments at Kichmond with this 

 variety tend to strengthen the opinion 

 that a few years -will give us white, 

 blush and intermediate shades in this 

 particular interesting rose. To be sure, 

 we have had Aglia, Thalia and Euph- 

 rosyne, but between these and Turner's 

 Crimson Bambler there is a wide differ- 

 ence of character. 



Years of Work Needed. 

 To secure the new type of garden 



rose outlined will necessitate careful, 

 painstaking labor extending over a long 

 period of time. A year or two will not 

 bring it to us. It has taken a full 

 third of a century to bring the hybrid 

 tea to its present stage of development. 

 It is a long stride from Antoine Verdier, 

 Mile. Bonnaire and La France to the 

 family as it is composed today. It might 

 be mentioned in passing that the three 

 varieties named above were the result of 

 accidental insect pollination. The evo- 

 lution of the hybrid tea class is men- 

 tiored simply to show that time and 

 patience are prime factors in creating 

 and perfecting a new type. 



We, the members of this society, might 

 earnestly question as to how we can best 

 aid in a consummation so earnestly de- 

 sired, so necessary to the widening popu- 

 larity of the rose in our American gar- 

 dens. Enthusiastic personal effort must 

 bo the groundwork of the movement, 

 which may be encouraged by the award 

 of the society's medal to meritorious 

 seedlings whose constitution and texture 

 of bloom make them desirable additions 

 to our outdoor roses. As indicated pre- 

 viously, the efforts at Bichmond have 

 all been made in the interest of winter 

 blooming sorts and, while this has been 

 the aim, several very promising varieties 

 other than forcing sorts have been pro- 

 duced which are now being tested as 

 garden varieties. 



A Gise of Dereliction. 



The florists of America have been no- 

 toriously lax as a profession in their 

 efforts to improve the rose, nearly all 

 our finest varieties being of foreign 

 origin and, while we may rightly covet 

 the honor of producing something fine 

 and grand, we have been exceedingly 

 blameworthy in sanctioning the act which 

 robbed an eminent French rosarian of 

 his honors, when we allowed the renam- 

 ing of Mme. Ferdinand Jamain, calling 

 it American Beauty. 



We have the genius and the talent to 

 produce an American type of rose if 

 our members will but apply themselves 

 to the task at hand. Shall we attempt 

 this work or shall we go on in the old 

 way, trusting to luck and to the products 

 of foreign skill to supply us with roses 

 suitable for our own gardens and homes t 



