The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



March 18, 1009. 



more diviia': soiiiolhin<; in the liitiire 

 sLi]>oiior to \\li:it a\(> 1i;u1 lieiotot'drc. 



"JliTO wc liud tin.' ri'iil tat liusiast, 

 \vi;i]i])od in wonder at the proj^ress made 

 in the growin*; of tlie queen uf llowers, 

 the rose. 



"Who, that has any material interest 

 or lovi' for roses, lan help but admire 

 the beautiful specimens arrayed here for 

 our insjiection? Who of you. lovers and 

 growers of the rose, but eanie to this 

 }j;athering with a certain object, that ob- 

 ject to improNO yourself in your chosen 

 profession? 



The Garden Rosc.s. 



'•in the matter of outdoor roses and 

 other subjects, so many valuable sugges- 

 tions have been submitted at former con 

 veidious. which api>car in the annual bul 

 letins, Ili;it I hardh know what more to 

 ufler. 



•'To niy mind, ihe Held lor and sair 

 of outdoor roses is unlimited wherever 

 good rose soil is located or obt.alnable. 



"Study well your varieties, their hab- 

 its, wants, and hardiness, ihe soils and 

 localities wherein they will thrive best, 

 and then i)roceed. Comparatively little 

 has been done in this line, when we con- 

 sider ilie immense, unbounded resources 

 at our hands, and the society's aim, 

 which is: *A rose for every home, a 

 bush for every garden. ' 



"This branch of the work is leit al 

 most entirely to the nurserymen, many 

 of whom have established an immense 

 business, ami who, like the commercial 

 rose growers, are ever on the alert for 

 something new with which to delight 

 their customers, and thereby advance 

 their own interests. 



"By placing the various roses, best 

 adapted to the dilTercnt localities, past 

 the experimental stage, where good re- 

 sults are obtained, you will do much to- 

 ward discrediting the doubts and fears 

 of the investing public and create an un- 

 precedented demand. 



"In this connection, it occuH-ed to 

 me that a good w.ay to bring outdoor 

 roses more prominently before the public 

 would be to obtain permission from pub- 

 lic oflScials to plant plots or individual 

 bushes in public scjuares, gardens or 

 parks, without charge; showing the name 

 of each variety and of the party who 

 supplied them, in small yet plain letters. 



The New Sorts. 



"One of the principal attractions at 

 these annual exhibitions is to see these 

 new creations of the floral world, these 

 new wonders of the rose kingdom. 



"We see, we like, we buy, we try. 

 They make good, or we lose out. On 

 lirst failure we may try again. 



' ' A race horse is good only when he 

 makes good. He may be a good looker, 

 but be out of the running. So with many 

 f>i our pets. They are relegated to the 

 background if the remuneratii)n is not 

 suflicieni. The ambitious irrower is 

 never satisfied to leave the trial of new 

 varieties to his neighbor, but will try 

 himself to find a winner. Often these 

 new things turn out preiiy iiot ones. 

 It is (juito natural that there are many 

 disapjtoiiitmi'iits. It cannot be other- 

 wise. One winmr, liowever, will cover 

 the shorti-omings of a iiinltiluile of raw 

 ones. 



"The breeders, hybridizers and intro- 

 ducers of new roses deserve encourage- 

 ment and support, even if they manage 

 to put one over occasionally. New va- 

 rieties put life in the business. Keep on 

 striving for high standards. The trade 

 demands it. 



"In the cut roses, a immber of new 

 delegates are in the Held looking for 

 lecognitioM. \otable among these are 

 White Kilhuney and My Maryland. 

 Both will be extensixely grown. The 

 society olfers ample reward to its ex- 

 hibitors and deals fairly with .m11 new 

 introductions. 



Disseminating Knowledge. 



"Your various committees have faith- 

 lidly attended to .and accomplished the 

 Work imposed on them. Your secretary 

 in jiarticular was indefatigable and con- 

 scientious in tiie full performance of his 

 duties, to which 1 can attest by reason 

 of his \()luniinous correspomlence, ami 

 deserves the sinceie thanks of this so- 

 ciety. 



■'1 wi»uhl like to iinjiress once more 

 lui all interested in the sale and culture 

 of outdoor roses tlh? need of disseminat- 

 ing; reliable knowledge among the public. 



" Huriug our meetings a number of 

 very instructive essays will be read by 

 men experienced in their lines, and which 

 will be entitled to our careful thought 

 .and consideration. The (lis<ussion which 

 usually follows will open tip new sources 

 of knowledge and give to us new ideas. 

 Of one thing we are certain: we arc 

 juogressing with the times. Let us for- 

 ever keep on doing so. 



' ' To further the society 's work and 

 aim, we want it to be known that all 

 lovers of the rose are welcome to our 

 ranks. The annual bulletin, which con- 

 tains much valuable information, is pub- 

 lished at considerable expense by the 

 earnestness and care bestowed on the 

 various subjects. To place the society 

 on a solid financial footing, we ask you 

 to be with us. Annual membership dues 

 are .$3, life membership $50. 



"To the Buffalo Florists' Club and 

 associates, who have i»rovided the society 

 with workers to carry on this exhibition, 

 and have looked after the society's wel- 

 fare, I wish to again express our hearty 

 thanks, ho{)ing that each of you feels 

 well repaid by the pleasure it has given 

 us to be with you." 



Secretary's Report. 



Secretary Hammond read the minutes 

 of the previous session, which were ap- 

 proved, and he then presented his annual 

 report, which was in part as follows: 



' ' No society could have a more loyal 

 set of backers than has the American 

 Rose Society. The past year has seen 

 the society sustained by a number of men 

 who claimed the privilege of assisting in 

 meeting the expenses. President August 

 F. Poehlmann has taken the keenest in- 

 terest in affairs. Separated by distance, 

 as a society such as this is, it requires a 

 long view to keeji all matters together 

 and moving. 



"The schedule of prizes has been care- 

 fully revised by the committee appointed 

 by the jiresident, ,T. N. May, Robert 

 Simpson, Alexander Montgomery. Frank 

 R. Pierson ;tnd Bejamin Hammond. The 

 first schedule was made up ten years ago 

 and remained in force until this season. 

 L;isf X(jvend3cr. during the national 

 flnwer show in (Jhicago, a general meet- 

 ing cif the Rose Society was held, at 

 which time the sum of $3.30 was pledged 

 by the gentlemen then present as ;i fund 

 for the prizes to be offered this spring. 

 At that mooting the important matter of 

 w.ays and means was freely discussed. 

 The offer of medals as prizes of honor 

 was advised and stress was laid on the 

 ])ropriety of making use of the society's 

 medals. Tlie mint of the United States 



at Pliiladel[)hia has the society die. 

 There never has been a gold medal struck, 

 the value of which woidd be determined 

 by its weight when struck. A few silver 

 and bronze medals were once made. 

 These have been distributed, except one 

 bronze medal. 



"The secretary wt)tdd suggest as one 

 practical way to largely extend the use- 

 fulness and membership of this society 

 that one silver and one bronze medal be 

 offered as a rose prize to local horticul- 

 tural societies, to be known as the Amer- 

 ican Rose Society's prize, for the best 

 display of roses without regard to va- 

 riety al the local show, but that each 

 society apjilying for the same shall have 

 at least one regular and two associate 

 members of the American Rose Society. 

 This itlea is advanced as the outcome of 

 the discussion at the meeting referred to 

 above. To })ut this to ;in available test 

 I am authorized by a gentleman to say 

 that he will pay for six silver and six 

 bronze medals to be used as a start in 

 this direction to popularize our society. 



' • I'resitltMit, I'oehlniann, in response to 

 a re(|uest by interested parties, has ap- 

 pointed a conmiittee to pass upon the im- 

 portant tuatter of registration of new- 

 roses. Ihe chairman of that committee 

 is ex-1'resident Robert Simpson. This 

 conunittee would give us j)restige as a 

 regular standing conindttee, as large in- 

 terests may come before it for considera- 

 tion. 



" The annual bidletin of the society was 

 issued after the close of the calendar year 

 IIHIS. thus bringing all business up to the 

 year's end. This laook tells its own story. 

 The cost of it was a little more than 

 half covered by the advertisements fur- 

 nished by a few at the rate of .$10 for 

 each page. Without the least taint of 

 tliscourtesy the .secretary would bring a 

 matter to notice: That is, a request that 

 when a jirize is offered in money, it 

 be sent in as soon as possible and, fur- 

 thermore, if named for a special purpose 

 and not so won, it may revert at once to 

 the general fund to make good the total 

 amount always recpured for the regular 

 prize list. 



"Our life membership has not in- 

 • reased the last year. Our invested fund 

 has. however, reached the total of $2,950 

 in the hands of our efficient treasurer, 

 Harry O. May. We have tried to keep 

 in touch with each of our members on 

 record, but so far the responses to the 

 annual due bills have not been as full as 

 desirable. 



"At the last annual meeting the sub- 

 ject of a rose journal was one of moment. 

 The tentative effort to start it into be- 

 ing, with the cost defrayed by an adver- 

 tising card, was sidetracked by the propo- 

 sition to launch and support it by sub- 

 scription for a year as a trial. This 

 fdan never materialized. In the mean- 

 time the Gardeners' Chronicle has of- 

 fered to give a magazine page each issue 

 for the use of the American Rose Society 

 as its popular paper. I hold a little 

 money sent in for the rose journal pro- 

 ject, which will be returned." 



Treasurer's Report. 



Treasurer Harry O. May made the fol- 

 lowing report of the financial affairs of 

 the society for the vear ending March 12, 

 1909: 



Kecelpts ?2.152.07 



Disbursements 1,968.93 



To balance on hand $ 183.14 



"In addition to the above general ac- 

 count, four life members have joined the 

 society, making a total of fifty-nine. The 



