March 14, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



1243 



that will grow and bloom as do most of 

 the present standard varieties in Eng- 

 land, on the Pacific coast and in many 

 of our southern states; but here in the 

 north only a pitifully small number can 

 be depended upon. And right here is a 

 wide field for the hybridist to enter. A 

 good, reliable, everblooming garden rose 

 will give pleasure and delight to mil- 

 lions of American citizens. It is to be 

 hoped that many rose lovers may enter 

 this sadly neglected field. My ideas on 

 this line of the subject were given in a 

 paper read before the S. A. F. at its 

 annual meeting at St. Louis, 1905. 



This line of work might have received 

 a fine stimulus if the trustees of the 

 Carnegie fund had been empowered to 

 set aside certain funds to be awarded 

 for meritorious new garden roses. The 

 field is not inviting to one who must 

 earn a maintenance, but if a prize or a 

 money consideration could be offered 

 of suflScient size it would stimulate ef- 

 forts in this direction. 



EASTER STOCK. 



Primulas in a Birchbark Pan. 



bloom. If we get vigor of growth with 

 certainty of bud, flowers on the ends of 

 long straight stems, that will be the type 

 that shall give us larger and finer flowers 

 for our winter forcing as well as better 

 varieties for our gardens. 



I know that you will say that predic- 

 tions of this sort are easy to make; but 

 kindly indulge me a little; let us use any 

 means to impress upon the minds of 

 those just taking up this work that con- 

 stitution is the foundation upon which 

 all effort must proceed. 



Skilled Workmen at Work. 



A great number of skilled and prac- 

 ticed workmen are enthusiastically bend- 

 ing their best energies toward improving 

 the rose and we are surely making a 

 steady advance in the right direction 

 under such men as the Dicksons, the 

 Pauls, the Souperts, Pernet and others 

 in France, and Peter Lambert and his 

 colleagues in Germany, together with 

 CJook, Walsh and others in this country; 

 we have a right to expect even better 

 results than have yet been obtained. 



Even with the combined efforts put 

 forth by the rosarians in this *id other 

 countries, progress will a,ppear slow to 

 the impatient workers in our ranks; 

 trifling advance will be noted, but better 

 types and varieties will surely gladden 

 our eyes and hearts, for nature has been 

 kind in the past, both in bud-variation 

 and by cross-fertilization and the com- 

 ing years will be no less fruitful than 

 the past. We shall improve upon Mal- 

 niaison, Marechal Niel, Catherine Mer- 

 met, Bride, Perle des Jardins, Kaiserin 

 Augusta Victoria, American Beauty, 

 Frau Karl Druschki, Liberty and the 

 two Cochets, or, at least, she will reward 

 us with varieties more readily amenable 

 to our twentieth century requirements, 

 which are stringent in the extreme. 



By all means let us study Mendel and 

 his theory, note the deductions of De 

 Vries, and gather all the information 

 possible from whatever source it can be 

 had, remembering that nature's working 

 theorems are to be discovered only by 

 the painstaking application of the knowl- 



edge at hand, and that no amount of 

 speculative theory will take the place of 

 intelligent persistent experiment person- 

 ally conducted. 



Let no one think for a moment that 

 good results may not be obtained by the 

 simple direct crossing of two varieties 

 of roses, for such is quite possible with- 

 out interbreeding. Eichmond was ob- 

 tained by using pollen from Liberty 

 upon Lady Battersea, but it was the one 

 valuable result out of a very large num- 

 ber of the same cross, so that we may 

 say there is a chance of a good return, 

 though it is not probable from this pro- 

 cedure. 



I have carefully avoided the use of 

 any scientific or technical terms and have 

 only tried to embody in this very imper- 

 fect paper my own ideas and to chron- 

 icle the results of my own observations. 



The Need in Northern States. 



Our gardens are sadly in need of roses 



It is time every retail florist was look- 

 ing to his stock for Easter. If it is not 

 already under way in the greenhouses, 

 it should be oVdered of the wholesaler. 

 And if you have stock provided, have 

 you all the necessary accessories? A 

 large part of the sales will be growing 

 plants and nowadays no plant is salable 

 unless properly dressed with the many 

 accessories provided by the supply houses. 



In a great majority of the stores there 

 is only a limited sale for the large and 

 expensive plants and for the staple items 

 of the average store only the less costly 

 accessories are needed — but they are no 

 less necessary because inexpensive, and 

 adequate supplies should be on hand for 

 a record trade. Unless all signs fail 

 this is to be a banner Eastet. It is the 

 purpose of the Review to show in this 

 and the following issue the plant ar- 

 rangements which sold well last Easter, 

 not so much that they may be copied as 

 to offer suggestions to the thoughtful 

 store man as to how the stock may be 

 varied. Variety is not only the spice of 

 life, but in a flower store it is the sauce 

 which does as much as novelty to retain 

 the interest of the public. 



Birch bark ware is one of the best 



Pan of Lily of the Valley Dressed in G-epe Paper, 



