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Mabch 14, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



124t 



I 



friends and business acquaintances by 

 correspondence, by personal appeal or in 

 any other legitimate way that presented 

 itself. 



Rule Governing Novelties. 



The society offers gold and silver 

 medals at its exhibitions for new varie- 

 ties, the object in offering these being to 

 encourage the production of novelties of 

 sterling merit; but in ruling that a nov- 

 elty must score at least ninety-five points 

 to win the gold medal we practically 

 make it impossible to win it at all. 



Very few judges would be willing to 

 say that a flower was perfect in form, in 

 color, in fragrance or distinctiveness or, 

 in fact, in any one particular, yet a 

 variety with as many good points as 

 Liberty or Killarney or Eichmond should 

 have a chance to win the gold medal of 

 the society. . We should of course main- 

 tain a high standard in the giving of 

 such awards, but we should at the same 

 time avoid exacting impossible condi> 

 tions. 



I ask you to consider whether gr not 

 the rule governing the judging of novel- 

 ties needs to be revised. 



The Permanent Fund. 



At the 1906 meeting you will remem- 

 ber that much time was taken up dis- 

 cussing the desirability and practicabil- 

 ity of establishing a permanent fund, of 

 considerable size, for the uses of the 

 society j all agreed that it was desirable, 

 but the meeting could not agree on any 

 particular plan of action. We have to- 

 day in America many men, so enriched 

 with this world's goods, that their chief 

 concern in life is to find the best way 

 to spend this vast accumulation of 

 wealth that it may accomplish the great- 

 est amount of good for the largest num- 

 ber of people. 



Art, education, science, religion, hu- 

 manitarianism, have each received their 

 millions to aid in prosecuting the work 

 of blessing mankind along their particu- 

 lar lines. It is a good thing to pay out 

 $100,000 for a fine painting and present 

 it to a museum of art, where it can be 

 seen and admired and furnish inspiration 

 to thousands of people. It is noble to 

 endow our institutions of learning so that 

 our youth may have the privileges of 

 higher education. It is still better to 

 provide the means for caring for the 

 sick, the suffering, the aged and the 

 homeless; but it is a question if, in es- 

 tablishing a fund of ample proportions 

 out of which this society might dis- 

 seminate information and furnish the in- 

 spiration which would result in the beau- 

 tifying of hundreds of thousands of 

 homes all over our land, and bringing 

 joy and brightness into the hearts and 

 lives of still larger numbers of our peo- 

 ple, the man of means would not be 

 choosing the very best way, from an 

 artistic, educational, humanitarian or 

 sociological point of view, of investing 

 the wealth which a kind Providence 

 has placed in his hands and made him 

 the steward and custodian. I am suffi- 

 ciently optimistic to think that if a com- 

 mittee composed of the right men should 

 take hold of this matter and present it 

 properly to men of large means and 

 philanthropic tendencies, that a fund 

 could be established, permanent in char- 

 acter, the income of which only could be 

 used by the society. 



Gentlemen, it rests with you to take 

 such action on this and other matters as 



E. Gumey Hill. 



your combined wisdom may consider best. 

 I trust your stay in the city of Wash- 

 ington may be both pleasant and profit- 

 able. 



ORDER AND CLEANLINESS. 



Having recently had occasion to visit 

 a number of greenhouse establishments, 

 the writer has been impressed with the 

 fact that the order and cleanliness which 

 obtain in greenhouses are almost al- 

 ways in direct proportion to the pros- 

 perity of the establishment. It does not 

 follow that the cleanliness is the result 

 of prosperity, but that prosperity is the 

 result of cleanliness. 



When a man keeps his greenhouse clean 

 and neat he also keeps the stock grow- 

 ing in it in the same condition. The 

 result is that it is better stock than is 

 grown in a disorderly establii^hment. It 

 sells quicker and it brings a better price. 

 You would not look for fine plants in a 

 slovenly establishment. It is an old say- 

 ing that the clothes make the man. By 

 the same token, order makes the success- 

 ful business man. 



They say that cleanliness is next to 

 godliness. There certainly is no other 

 way in which we may so easily approach 

 godliness. It costs little to be clean. 

 It takes only a moment to throw the rub- 

 bish where it belongs, instead of under 

 the benches. Five minutes once a week 

 will rake the gravel or ashes beneath the 

 bench and habit quickly will cause a 

 careful man to keep his pot plants 

 straightly aligned. 



Geand Rapids, Mich. — The Florists' 

 Club is going ahead with preparations 

 for a flower show this fall. 



THE ROSE GROWER'S IDEAL. 



[A paper by E. G. Hill, of Ulchmond, Ind.. 

 read before the annual convention of the Amer- 

 ican Rose Society at Washington, D. C, March 

 13, 1907.] 



Your president and executive commit- 

 tee have suggested as a subject for my 

 paper, * * The Advisability of Having 

 an Ideal in Mind when Attempcing to 

 Eaise New and Improved Varieties of 

 Roses. ' ' 



It would have been better if you had 

 selected some one to prepare this paper 

 who has had a broader and more ex- 

 tended experience bearing upon this par- 

 ticular line of work than myself. It 

 is a subject full of interest, of mystery 

 and of elusive leadings, and of which 

 I am free to confess I have little exact 

 knowledge. The more I have tried to 

 inquire into the laws governing cross 

 fertilization, the more surprised I have 

 been at the very little tangible knowl- 

 edge possessed by plant growers, for it 

 would seem that after generations of 

 attempts at crossing we should find 

 much more accurate information at hand, 

 and, at least, a few formulas which 

 might be followed with some certfiinty. 



These, however, are not yet at hand, 

 but that is no occasion for discourage- 

 ment, for of one thing I am convinced, 

 there are underlying laws which guide 

 to certain results, and while at present 

 we are only groping toward them in 

 the dark, patient persistence will finally 

 give us our working theorem which will 

 prevent the present waste of utterly 

 haphazard effort, and reduce it to a 

 science and an art at least approaching 

 the exact. Nature does finally reward 

 the painstaking investigator and she does 

 reveal enough concerning her manners 



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