22 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Kkhuiauv 2, 1011. 



THE ROSE NOVELTIES. 



Many Promising Candidates. 



A lialf-dozen years ago the burden of 

 the song was tlie lack of novelty among 

 roses, the dejiressing sameness of the 

 eternal Bride and Maid. But Bride and 

 Maid proved not to be eternal. At length 

 one or two persistent growers found out 

 how to handle Killarney, which had been 

 introduced several years before, and soon 

 the whole rose-growing trade acquired 

 the knowledge that put Bridesmaid hope- 

 lessly out of tlie race. Then came the 

 white sport of Killarney to do the same 

 for Bride. Now, in place of Maid and 

 Bride, the staple roses are Killarney and 

 White Killarney. Of course there are 

 others, principal of which are Richmond 

 and My Maryland, but the list of forcing 

 roses has lengthened not at ail by the 

 introductions of the last few years and 

 there is scarcely more variety today than 

 a dozen years ago, when the big four were 

 Beauty, Maid, Bride and Meteor. Today 

 it is Beauty, Killarney, White Killarney 

 and Richmond. Here and tliere some 

 grower makes a good thing doing some 

 other rose in quantity, but there is, in 

 the average market, little more variety 

 than in the days when Maid and Bride 

 were dominant. If there w;is sameness 

 then, tiiere is sameness now. 



Every year brings out one or more 

 promising candidates and the roses of 

 today are certainly of far better quality 

 than the old sorts. The novelties, to 

 stand any chance of acceptance, must 

 show up decidedly well. In spite of the 

 high requirements, the list of new sorts 

 now under consideration is the longest 

 offered in recent years. While it is im- 

 possible to give a long description of 

 each one, the following are engaging the 

 attention of progressive rose growers: 



Rose Queen. 



Sanguine as are the ideas of the E. G. 

 Hill Co.. at Richmond, Ind., it takes 

 Charles H. Totty to give an enthusiastic 

 description of Rose Queen. He is on rec- 

 ord as saying: "It is destined to do away 

 with Killarney, Maryland and all other 

 pink roses from a market standpoint." 

 The color is the lively, clear pink found 

 in Rodocanachi or in a perfect Testout. 

 Blooms sliown at the fall exhibitions did 

 not blue with age and its keeping and 

 shipping qualities were excellent. It is 

 fuller than Killarney and the Hill people 

 say it is an easy doer. They consider it 

 as the best thing that has yet resulted 

 from the many years of scientific hybridi- 

 zation that have been carried on at Rich- 

 mond. 



In the illustration of Rose Queen that 

 appears in this issue, the shape of the 

 petals on some of the flowers shows up 

 peculiarly\ The notches are not notches 

 at all, but are caused by the ruffled 

 edges that characterize the variety. 



Melody. 



Alex. Dickson & Sons, the Irish rosa- 

 rians for whom Robert Scott & Son are 

 American agents, are the raisers of 

 Melody. It is the fourth of their seed- 

 lings to find favor with the growers under 

 glass in this country. Its predecessors 

 were Killarney, Liberty and Mrs. Jar- 

 dine. Melody is apricot yellow, quite 

 distinct from any variety now forced for 

 winter bloom. Scott & Son say it is a 

 wonderfully free bloomer, as they have 

 cut as many as twentj'-six blooms from 

 one plant in the December crop, and 

 twenty-seven blooms from the same plant 



Rose Double Pink Killarney. 



in tlie February crop. The growth and 

 foliage Jire as distinct as is the color of 

 tlie flower. 



Lady Hillingdon. 



Lady Hillingdon originiite<l with Lowe 

 &. Sli;iwyer, Ltd., a firm that was estab- 

 lished by .Toseph Lowe, at Uxbridge, 

 Middlesex, England, in 1S64. When ex- 

 hibited before the Royal Horticultural 

 Society at London, March 8, 1909, the 

 variety gained an award of merit. It is 

 described as "a beautiful new tea-scented 

 rose that appears to be especially suit- 

 able for forcing. It has long stems and 

 handsome foliage. The full, broad-petaled 

 blooms are of a ])leasing shade of soft 

 yellow. A very fine new rose." Charles 

 H. Totty stands sponsor for its American 



debut. He saw it when he visited Eng- 

 land a coujile of years ago, has been try- 

 ing it out at his place at Madison, N. J., 

 and has, he says, had his first impression 

 more than confirmed. 



Prince de Bulgaria. 



This is scarcely a new rose, for it 

 first reached thu United States in 1902, 

 but it is just now becoming generally 

 distributed. The name being lost when 

 the first plants were sent from France, 

 by Pernet-Ducher, it was sold as Mrs. 

 Taft, by which name it still is known 

 in the New York and Boston markets. 

 But there is another Taft rose which was 

 distributed to a very limited extent by 

 a western grower which is quite a differ 

 ent thing. A. N. Pierson, Cromwell. 

 Conn., thought he could identify the 

 French variety as Antoine Rivoire, and 

 exhibited it under that label. Later, 

 plants he sent to Europe for identification 

 were determined to be Prince de Bui 

 garie. The Piersons say that for three 

 months in the year it is one of the best 

 varieties they ever have grown undei v 

 glass. It requires a higher temperaturt> 

 in dark weather than do other roses; 

 otherwise it is an easy grower The 

 color is a shell pink of rare and delicate 

 beauty. A. N. Pierson states that the 

 first order accepted for 1911 delivery of 

 young stock was for 15,000 grafted plants 

 and that it promises to become widely 

 distributed in another year or two. 



Double Pink Killarney. 



The fault charged to Killarney has 

 been its paucity of petals. With Robert 

 Scott & Son, Sharon Hill, Fa., the va- 

 riety sported to white and then the white 

 form back to the bright pink shade of 

 the original, and in the process the 

 bloom gained nearly fifty per cenl^ in 

 number of petals. S. S. Pennock-Meehan, 

 who are the selling agents for the cut 

 flowers of Scott & Son, found the 

 doubling a great help in shipping and 

 iTrged the grower to work up stock for 

 dissemination, which is now going for- 

 ward, Henry A. Dreer and others assist- 

 ing the Scott and Pennock-Meehan con 

 corns. 



Dark Pink Killarney. 



Eber Holmes, of Montrose Greenhouses, 

 Montrose, Mass., discovered the darker 

 colored sport of Killarney that was subse- 

 quently sold to A. N. Pierson, Cromwell. 

 Conn., and which is being distributed in 

 the trade this season. It is identical 

 with the parent in all things save color, 

 which is much darker and less liable t<> 

 \ariation. 



Hilda. 



My Maryland has developed a consider 

 able tendency to sport, and of the sev 

 era! deeper pink variations from the 

 original variety, one of the earliest to 

 make its appearance was named Hilda. 

 ]\Iyers & Samtman, who grow principal 

 1> for the Philadelphia market but send 

 a part of their output to New York, 

 Pittsburg and Chicago, were among the 

 first to recognize the merits of Mary- 

 land and when they found the deeper 

 pink sport they proceeded to work up 

 stock, feeling sure they had an improve- 

 ment. This year they have 5,000 plants 

 and say the way the cut blooms are 

 selling has confirmed their earlier es- 

 timate of its value. It is identical with 

 the parent in all respects save color. 



Lady Cromwell. 



In 1908 A. N. Pierson, Cromwell, 

 Conn., found a sport of My Maryland, 

 identical in all respects except the color 



