142 FOURTH NATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 
Probably we owe more to our ex-President, Mr. Wallace R. Pierson, for 
pushing these test-gardens, than to any other one individual. In encouraging 
this work Mr. Pierson has been far-sighted, and has realized what the gardens 
will mean both to the commercial man and to the amateur. 
Any society or horticultural organization in the United States or Canada 
which holds an annual exhibition of roses can affliate with the American Rose 
Society, and upon afl&liation imder our rules will receive annually one silver and 
two bronze medals, to be offered at local exhibitions. Further, each aflBIiated 
society will receive The American Rose Annual for each one of its members. __ 
These annual shows, as held by the various societies over the country — -^ 
not only by present afl&liated societies, but by those we hope to have afl&liated 
with us in the future — are to my mind likely to prove the greatest advertisers 
for the rose that we can have. So far as I know, wherever a show has once 
been held, it is continued year after year, each being larger and better, with 
more interest taken. 
At a little show held annually at Lansdowne, Pa., last June an old Quaker 
friend of the writer came to him, and after looking the exhibition over, being 
very much interested in the flowers — not only the roses, but the other flowers 
as well — said: " I think that kind of work is good for the community; and when 
the people are busy with flowers, they are out of mischief." We certainly ele- 
vate the standards of our communities when we succeed in creating a love for 
roses; for if a man really loves the rose, he will surely love his neighbors! 
It is surprising to note how many amateurs who attend these small shows 
possess much general information on roses — in fact, far more than the average 
commercial grower, who knows his own varieties very well, but whose knowl- 
edge outside of what he is growing may be limited. 
A rose show, whether it is an amateur show, or whether it is one of the 
large shows fostered by the Society of American Florists, is an education to 
everyone who attends. 
In each succeeding Rose Annual we want to have set forth some of the 
history of the rose, by the leading rosarians of the country; history that wiU be 
interesting in more ways than one; including the experience of both the com- 
mercial and the amateur grower. It is gratifying to know that this first 
American Rose Annual presents thus some papers of permanent value — as, for 
instance, Mr. Wilson's account of the species, Dr. Van Fleet's interesting 
suggestions as to hybridizing, and the story of "Gurney" Hill's rose half- 
century. 
At a meeting of the American Rose Society held in Boston, August 20 
19 14, when Mr. M. H. Walsh was presented with the Hubbard gold medal, 
this same Mr. Hill, in making the presentation, said among other things : — • 
" Now another thought. I hope some day that this medal will go to a man who will take 
up our native species and from some of our best and hardiest Hybrid Teas produce roses which 
