December, 1919 
I | THE 
The Propagation and 
Growing of the Rose. 
Paper read by E. G. Hill before the American 
Association of Nurserymen at Chicago, 1919. 
I TAKE IT AS AN UNUSUAL honor to re- 
ceive an invitation from your society to 
address you on the subject assigned, for 
the reason that you have so many competent 
gentlemen within your own organization who 
could do this subject the fullest justice. 
The Rose is pre eminent among flowers. 
It still stands unrivalled in popularity, as it 
has from time immemorial ; Sappho sang its 
praises and historians and poets paid hom- 
age to its beauty throughout the ages, and 
because of its firm hold upon the people, 
through sentiment and association, in love 
and in war, in sickness and death, in gar- 
landing the marriage altar, in extending re- 
freshment to friends, it has come to have a 
substantial pecuniary value. It takes little 
urging to persuade the owner of a home or 
the possessor of a plot of ground to invest 
in a planting of garden Roses. 
With this standing of the Rose in the 
public mind it would seem a matter of real 
interest to the gentlemen of this association 
and of the nursery trade at large to find it 
not only interesting but profitable to in- 
crease your plantings of the Rose, and espe- 
cially to disseminate the new and improved 
varieties. 
Our country is so wide in extent, and so vari- 
able as to climate, that Roses suited to one 
section may be absolute failures in others, 
hence the need of supplying suitable sorts 
for given localities. The knowledge neces- 
sary to make such selection requires long and 
careful study and can be made complete 
only by personal experiment, and in this 
experiment many points, considered singly 
or in various combinations, must be taken 
into account ; notably drainage, composition 
of the soil, exposure, temperature, humidity 
and the behavior of the variety in response 
to these conditions. 
CLIMBERS AND WICHURAIANAS. 
The Climbers and the Wichuraianas should 
be better known, and their individual char- 
acteristics fully appreciated, for they suc- 
ceed in nearly all sections of the country ex- 
cept perhaps in portions of the Northwest 
and in the extreme South ; our present va- 
rieties in] these two classes are the pioneers 
of garden planting among the masses of our 
people. However, varieties more resistant to 
severe cold are needed for the Dakotas and 
that latitude. In the South the tendency to 
continuous growth is apt to lessen the 
vitality of the Rose, but in the Gulf territory 
and in California, the climbing Teas and 
Noisettes prove highly satisfactory. La- 
marque, Gold of Ophirf.Solfarterre, Gloire de 
Dijon and that wonderful Rose, the Marechal 
Niel, with the climbing sports of certain 
Teas and H. T.’s like Kaiserin Augusta, 
Meteor and others, give a fine choice of color 
subjects in trellis Roses. 
These tender climbers suffered consider- 
ably in the terrible Winter of 1917-18, but 
this Spring they are again a mass of bloom 
and brilliant color, reinstating themselves in 
the favor of all who love Roses. 
Some of the most satisfactory varieties in 
the hardy climbing section are Dorothy Per- 
kins and White Dorothy, Dr. Van Fleet, Tail- 
sendschon, Excelsa, Mary Lovett, Silver Moon, 
Bessie Lovett, Gardenia, American Pillar and 
Graf Zeppelin ; this list could be extended 
considerably to include other excellent sorts. 
If I wished to make friends for the Rose — 
and incidentally for my own business— I 
should recommend to the novice the dwarf 
Slower (Grower 
ROSE 
polyantha type of Rose for these invariably 
succeed even under adverse circumstances. 
They are hardy, wonderfully free in bloom 
and absolutely continuousbloomers up to the 
killing frosts about Thanksgiving Day in our 
Middle Western States ; beginners in Rose 
culture should be urged to make their first 
experiments with these lovely bouquets of 
“baby” blooms. Among the true and tried 
are Erna Teschendorf)', Mme. Levasseur, Cath- 
erine Zeimet, Mrs. Cutbush, Clotilde Soupert 
and Mme. Gouchault. 
What the Rose loving public demands are 
the “everbloomers,” and we may as well say 
at once that outside of the Polyanthus the 
“ everbloomer ” is an impossibility so far as 
the production of bloom during July and the 
first half of August is concerned. 
TEAS AND HYBRID TEAS. 
Among the Teas and Hybrid Teas, after 
the flush of June bloom is past, there in- 
variably comes an interval of rest, lasting 
until cooler nights herald the approach of 
Autumn ; then comes the great show of the 
Summer, lasting till it is cut short by frost. 
After a most critical scrutiny of the fine col- 
lections at the Trial Gardens at Washing- 
ton, D. C., the trial beds at Dreer’s Riverton 
(N. J.) place, John Cook’s at Baltimore, Bob- 
bink & Atkins’ at Rutherford, N. J., and 
other noted collections, the following 25 sorts 
seem to contitute the very finest of the Hy- 
brid Teas; in making up this list I have 
first of all considered constitution and vigor, 
combined with shapeliness of form, good 
color and free production of bud and bloom. 
Fragrance must be present for milady’s 
bouquet, but is not so essential where the 
mass of color is the aim, though Rose per- 
fume is a delight to the senses wherever its 
subtle fragrance is. The 25 H. T.’s for bed- 
ding are as follows : 
Radiance, Red Radiance, Lieutanant Chauri, 
Hoosier Beauty, Gen. Mac Arthur, Gruss An 
Teplitz, Geo. C. Waud, fanet, Indiana, Lady 
Ursula, Lady Ashtown, Mme. Caroline Test- 
out, Konigin Carola, Mrs. Wakefield, Christie 
Miller, Mme. Jules Bouche, Lady A lice Stan- 
ley, Killarney Queen, ' Ophelia, Mrs. A. R. 
Waddell, Mary, Countess of Ilchester, Robin 
Hood, Columbia, Los Angeles, Duchess o) 
Wellington, Dorothy Page Roberts. 
The varieties Wm. R. Smith, Baldwin, Pink 
and White Cochet, Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, 
Antoine Rivoire, Lady Hillingdon and Melanie 
Soupert will find a host of friends wherever 
climatic conditions favor their growth and 
development. 
The Hybrid Perpetual class is better known 
by the men of your association than by my- 
self, though I still have clear cut pictures in 
my mind of those magnificent sorts Frau 
Karl Druschki, Paul Neyron, Ulrich Brunner, 
General jacqueminot, Anna de Diesbach, Al- 
fred Colomb and Hugh Dickson ; these are 
still widely known. 
The Rugosa has a future for the hybridist 
and from the admixture of the blood of this 
rugged species will come beautiful]varieties 
for the colder climes of Canada and of this 
country. This we may now anticipate with 
certainty, for are they not already arriving? 
The need of novelty, of new Roses, holds 
good with the nurserymen in only less de- 
gree than with the florists. At one of our 
exhibitions in New York City a prominent 
lady thus criticized the Rose growers : “ You 
florists have compelled me for the past ten 
years to put before my guests, time after 
time, three, or at most, four varieties of cut 
Roses ; why don’t you give us a wider choice ? 
What would you think if we women wore 
the same flowers in our hats year after year ? ” 
Happily the criticism has been felt and has 
produced a change at the source of supply, 
127 
and now we have a greater variety and a 
heavier demand for our product. 
If I might venture a criticism I would sug- 
gest that all the old wood cuts and the col- 
ored lithographs of bygone days be pro- 
nounced taboo. New half tones of Roses 
made from good photos attract and please, 
while the old stereotyped plates are anything 
but enticing and further the firm using them 
in its catalogue too often propagates or buys 
obsolete varieties to fit its old plates! 
Trading in old varieties which should have 
gone into the discard is not treating the ama- 
teur fairly, especially the beginner in Rose 
growing, but happily many of your firms are 
putting out catalogues which it is a joy to 
handle. 
The information possessed by the ama- 
teurs and especially the women amateurs of 
the country respecting the names and suit- 
ability of varieties for different purposes is 
most marked ; this has come about through 
the publication of news items appearing in 
the press from time to time. “Say it with 
Flowers ” is an awakener not only to the 
prospective purchaser of flowers, but to the 
commercial growers as well ; it is absolutely 
necessary for men in the nursery and green- 
house business to be able to talk intelligently 
and intimately with their customers and 
prospective buyers. 
The Rose test gardens being established in 
different sections of the country are proving 
to be a forceful method of bringing the bet- 
ter varieties of Roses to the knowledge of 
the man or woman who wishes to adorn the 
home with the finest and best in Roses. 
These test gardens also indicate poor and 
unsuitable varieties, thus avoiding much dis- 
appointment in selecting varieties. 
I understand that you are raising a pub- 
licity fund for the spread of information re- 
specting your products ; this, with the pub- 
licity fund of the S. A. F. and O. H. will 
surely help both lines of trade, the nursery- 
men and florists; in fact, the propaganda by 
the two associations will tend to mutual 
benefit in furthering trade. 
The American Rose Society deserves your 
hearty support, for with the spread of in- 
formation regarding the Rose will come a 
desire for all kinds of ornamentals and ever- 
greens. Every nurseryman should be a 
member of the American Rose Society ; one 
of your number is its newly elected presi- 
dent, Robert Pyle, and the annual report of 
the society is replete with timely articles on 
the Rose in all its bearings. 
ROSE TEST GARDEN. 
I would especially call attention to the 
Washington Rose Test Garden. This is 
fostered and cared for by the department of 
Agriculture, and with its great variety of 
named Roses is an education in itself for any 
one interested. Here are to be viewed the 
newer introductions from the leading rosar- 
ians of Europe and America ; this of itself 
is a matter of prime importance to those in- 
terested. If present plans are carried out, a 
great garden where Roses, grown in mass 
backed by the most interesting of the newer 
shrubs, will be one of the forthcoming fea- 
tures of interest to plantsmen. 
Another item which should enlist your in- 
terest in the operations of the department is 
the highly interesting scientific work being 
accomplished by Dr. Van Fleet, under de- 
partmental control. He is cross-fertilizing 
hardy Roses and producing results that are 
as delightful as surprising, these varieties 
being disease resisting hardy varieties with 
showy flowers, will prove most valuable and 
welcome additions. 
Another amateur who is devoting time 
and money to Rose culture and is accom- 
plishing far-reaching results, is Captain 
George C. Thomas, Chestnut Hill, Pa. This 
gentleman is breeding on special lines, but 
his one great purpose is to give us perpetual 
[ Continued on page 129.} 
