APBiL 12, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



J495 



ROSES FOR CUT BLOOM. 



[A paper by Benjamin Dorrauce, Dorranceton, 

 Pa., read before the New York Florists' Club, 

 April 9, 1906.] 



When I received the invitation from 

 Mr. O'Mara, of your committee, to write 

 ;i paper on the rose, I was in Egypt, and 

 it was only after a good deal of hesita- 

 tion that I thought best to accept. I re- 

 gret that my want of knowledge must be 

 so much in evidence. To tafl: to prac- 

 tical men, thoroughly up on the subject, 

 as you are, I confess, is most embarrass- 

 ing. To relate only a part of my expe- 

 rience and trust that you will forgive 

 the presumption, I will tell you my rea- 

 sons for accepting. 



Primarily, I am under obligations to 

 many members of the New York Flo- 

 rists ' Club, both on the grounds of friend- 

 ship and of customers, whom I value 

 highly. Then, when a member of the 

 firm of Peter Henderson & Co. asks me 

 to do anything, I feel that I owe it to 

 the memory of the respected founder of 

 that establishment to do whatever I can, 

 no matter how poorly, to advance the 

 rose, since he, now so long gone but. not 

 forgotten, was the chief instrument in 

 turning a poor, blind lawyer from the 

 path he had trod to the sweeter, pleas- 

 anter, brighter path of a rose grower. 



The Story of a Start 



Well do I remember the day when, 

 having had it announced to me by an 

 oculist that if I wished to be able to see 

 the sweet light of day, and nature's 

 beauties, I must absolutely give up my 

 profession. Not feeling at the best, as 

 you can understand, I strolled down 

 Cortlandt street, and, stopping in to see 

 Mr. Henderson, received a kind invita- 

 tion to visit the Jersey City establish- 

 ment. It is but as yesterday that we 

 walked through the houses and he so 

 kindly showed me the methods he found 

 '•est for treatment of the various plants, 

 •'ind naturally we talked of my loss. He 

 said to mo, "You have the land and 

 (heap fuel; why don't you try rose 

 growing? Go over to John Henderson's, 

 ^t Flushing, and see what he is doing." 

 And I did. Now, to this advice I owe 

 ^' hatever of success I may have made in 

 ''le work, and it is little I can do to 

 -'C'Pay, and, as I have said, I felt it a 

 'iiity to say yes. Let this be my apology. 



Tt was about 1882 that I first gave my 

 ■''tontion to rose growing, and today, 

 ^nen Bon Silene, Souvenir d'un Ami, 

 ■^orunt, Mermet and other nearly forgot- 

 I'n roses of the past are mentioned, it 

 fjKes me back to the days when I strug- 

 -^d to get some slight return for the 



efforts I put forth to learn why Perle 

 would not open and why Niphetos pre- 

 ferred to bow its head to Mother Earth. 

 Then Cornelia Cook stood peer of all the 

 whites, with its long, erect stems, and 

 delighted in brick dust and cow manure 

 piled high around the pots. 



The Growing Galaxy. 



Do you remember when John May sent 

 out the Bride? And how happy all were 

 that at last we had a white rose that 

 would give us freely flowers without coax- 

 ing! Do you remember Charley Ander- 



Sprinkled here and there through all 

 this time new roses grew, bloomed and 

 died because not good; hopes built but 

 to be blasted, and Perle remained tixe 

 only yellow for the florist. 



Liberty came, sweet, yet disappointing 

 to most growers. Now Richmond comes 

 to do her battle. Which shall win? 



Each succeeding year brings before 

 you new candidates for your favor. They 

 rise, they shine, they disappear. Sweet 

 is the child of one's own raising. Each 

 thinks his will succeed, and yet, when 

 brought before the judgment of the 

 buyer, they are doomed to live only in 

 the memory of the originator. And 

 Beauty reigns, still as ever, in plant or 

 woman, queen of all. 



Beauty the Leader. 



To go over the long list of roses that 

 from time to time has been added to by 

 candidates for popular favor would seem 

 useless, since, once condemned, there is 

 little hope for resurrection and they 

 stand only as monuments to the immense 

 if fruitless labor of careful, painstaking 

 workers. Here and there one remains, 

 for a brief period, a seeming success, 

 only to be supplanted by some new can- 

 didate, perhaps better, far more prob- 

 ably not so good as the old. Still there 



Benjamin Dorrance. 



son, and how he urged that Mme. Cusin 

 was a good rose ? Then what a stir there 

 was over the Bennett, sweet of flavor, 

 short of stem and blue of color. Mrs. 

 Pierpont Morgan, ' ' as large as Beauty, ' ' 

 and so much more in evidence. How 

 from Mermet came, God-given, through 

 the hands of Mr. Moore, the Bridesmaid. 

 Then Meteor burst forth, out of darkness, 

 to give us the first good red of profuse 

 bloom. 



remains the list of but ten or a dozen, 

 the standbys, the reliance of grower and 

 salesman. 



That Beauty has so long been a favor- 

 ite is not to be wondered at, for al- 

 though not a truly beautiful rose (at 

 least in some eyes) never as yet has one 

 been produced with the vigor of growth 

 and luxuriance of this rose and when 

 to these is added its fine fragrance, it is 

 not surprising tliat it has a hold on 



