144 FOURTH NATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 
GETTING BETTER ROSES* 
Elsewhere in this Annual will be found notes as to the relation of the 
European war to rose-production, and in Dr. Van Fleet's paper on "Possi- 
bilities in the Production of American Garden Roses," Ave are informed that 
136 varieties were imported in one year. Of this number, barely a dozen 
might be expected to show sufficient value in the United States to warrant 
their continued growth. It is not to be understood that this small proportion 
is due to poor quality or to low standards among the foreign hybridizers, but 
rather that it indicates the lack of adaptability to American conditions in most 
of the rose varieties coming from abroad. 
The United States has not been prominent in rose-hybridizing, as may 
be vuiderstood when it is noted that out of 588 varieties of roses listed in the 
1 9 14 Ofi&cial Catalogue of the National Rose Society of England, covering the 
good roses of all the world, but twenty-sLx are of American origin — less than 5 
per cent! 
That roses of American origin are likely to be better adapted to American 
conditions need not be argued. The notable successes scored by the few hy- 
bridizers who have worked in the United States — as A\dtness the Walsh, Van 
Fleet, Hill and Cook productions, for instance — indicate the possibility of 
notable advances, particularly in garden roses, when American rosarians, 
properly encouraged, really get to work. 
The resources now at command in the species collected in west China 
by E. H. Wilson, and the greater knowledge of how desirable rose characters 
may be transmitted, indicate that the present is a most favorable time to pro- 
mote the getting of better roses. The checking of European endeavor, in con- 
sequence of the Great War, adds another inducement to go forward in rose- 
hybridization. 
It is for these reasons that an especial endeavor has been made to gather 
for The American Rose Annual all available information and experience in 
relation to American rose origination. The governing principles are set forth, 
and a carefvil reading of the papers in this section will enable an aspiring hy- 
bridizer of roses to save years of time, for he may have thus at command the 
conclusion of experience. 
In order to indicate the work already done, a list of roses originated by 
hybridization in America is added. This hst is probably far from complete, 
although much effort has been made to make it so. Some capable workers 
seem disinclined to answer letters, and in one case the desired information came 
only after a half-dozen letters and one telegram had been followed up through 
mutual friends. It is intended to carry the hst along from year to year, adding 
to it as may be possible. Let us have American roses for America I 
* Editor's Introduction in the .American Rose Annual. 
