ROSE GOSSIP. 
T HE meeting of the Society of American Florists, in 
August last, was a great event. It presented novel, 
if not unique, features, amply sufficient to distinguish it 
from humdrum societies of a kindred character. For 
instance, it deliberately killed off its worthy president 
with the most refreshing sangfroid, simply for the sake 
of getting up in his honor a glowing obituary, exceeding 
in pathetic unction anything that Mr. Dana, of the Sun, 
has ever quoted from the efforts in that line of his friend, 
Mr. Childs, of the Philadelphia Ledger. Subsequently, a 
committee was formed to restore the president to life 
again, which magic feat was successfully accomplished by 
the skillful administration of an elegant gold watch, and 
the meeting again assumed its normal aspect, the smiling 
president looking none the worse from the sanguinary 
ordeal through which he had passed. It is quite possible 
that suspicion may arise as to the absolute fidelity of 
these succinct details; therefore, let doubting readers be 
convinced by procuring a copy of the extraordinary pro¬ 
ceedings, one of which was kindly sent me by an 
esteemed friend, a prominent member of the society, who, 
with a solitary exception—he admires roses in a perfunc¬ 
tory way only—is an epitome of human perfections, 
natural and acquired. He, having been present as a 
moving actor in the exciting scene, is fully prepared to 
testify to the correctness of my sketch. On the whole, 
the society is an organization full of promise for the 
future, it is destined without doubt to accomplish useful 
work and to introduce needed reforms in the floricultural 
field. Among the many good things contained in the 
spicy and attractive pamphlet, I was specially drawn to a 
paper read by Mr. Halliday on “ The Disadvantages of 
Cultivating and Advertising Innumerable Varieties of the 
Same Plant.” It was gratifying to observe that Mr. 
Halliday did not treat this important subject solely from 
the florist’s point of view, but with most commendable 
unselfishness pleaded the cause of the amateur grower as 
well. 
His idea, he explained, was to prevent “ unnecessary 
time and labor to be lost by the grower, as well as bewil¬ 
derment and dissatisfaction to the purchaser,” and to 
“ make selection less complicated to the amateur culti¬ 
vator.” Among the leading flowers whose lists, he ar¬ 
gued, should be abridged were Hybrid Remontant roses, 
for the reason that the distinction between many of the 
varieties was one without a difference. Just here, as an 
amateur grower, grateful for the consideration acorded 
by Mr. Halliday to amateurs in general, I shall venture to 
make a suggestion which is of the highest importance in 
our interests, and would, I feel confident, add very much 
to the standing and prestige of the professional growers. 
The suggestion I offer is this : That the Society of Ameri¬ 
can Florists exact from all its members correctness in 
naming the flowers they offer for sale. Could strict 
obedience to this simple edict be enforced, then the diffi¬ 
culty of which Mr. Halliday deplores the existence would 
be summarily solved, and the long, imposing (in every 
sense of the word) and untruthful lists of many cata¬ 
logues would be wonderfully and radically curtailed. I 
know from painful experience that an exceedingly re¬ 
stricted stock of varieties offers no obstacle to many deal¬ 
ers to send out long, varied and tempting descriptions of 
sorts that when ordered prove to be fraudulently named. 
In these remarks I refer exclusively to the rose. Having 
cultivated it for many years I naturally have had dealings 
with several prominent houses—a dozen or more—that 
make a specialty of the rose. I do not wish it to be un¬ 
derstood that I bring sweeping charges against the en¬ 
tire confraternity as a class, for I am aware that among 
the hundreds who follow the profession there are many 
who, by infinite care and energetic personal supervision, 
send out plants accurately named. My remarks apply to 
that portion of the profession who, from culpable negli¬ 
gence, lack of a thorough knowledge of the rose, or from 
some less avowable cause, are in different degrees pro- 
vokingly untrustworthy. 
My own experience, as well as that of every rose culti¬ 
vator of my acquaintance, convinces me that this intoler¬ 
able abuse is widespread, and to confirm this view I have 
had quite recently the unsought testimony of a florist 
who carries on an extensive business. He has dealt in 
roses quite largely for years, although up to a recent date 
his trade has been principally confined to monthlies. He 
decided to increase his stock of Hybrid Remontants, 
acquired a large collection and propagated from them in 
immense quantities. He issued a seductive catalogue, 
containing an extensive list of select sorts, which included 
all the newer varieties, such as Merveille de Lyon, Queen 
of Queens, William Francis Bennett, &c., &c. 
As he was one of my favorite dealers I was delighted 
at the new departure, and immediately on receipt of his 
catalogue sent him an order for fifty plants. They ar¬ 
rived in excellent condition about the end of April, hav¬ 
ing been shipped by express with the earth surrounding 
the roots intact. They were planted in open ground 
after having passed a quarantine of two or three weeks 
in a hotbed. The season proved singularly favorable 
and they made exceedingly vigorous growth, many of 
them forming bushy plants three feet in height at the end 
of the summer, and with few exceptions all bloomed; as 
they did so my disenchantment began. I had already re¬ 
ceived Merveille de Lyon on its first appearance in this 
country and was so charmed with it that I ordered three 
additional plants from him. These were the first to 
bloom, and to my great disgust proved to be a Hybrid 
Noisette, Coquette des Blanches, thus proving false to 
class as well as name. This was followed by the appear¬ 
ance of Agrippina, who had the audacity to personate 
Madame Isaac Periere; and Sydonie, not at all a rare 
sort, eventually emerged into the still more common¬ 
place Paeonia ; Mme. Gabriel Luizet, on whom 1 had lav¬ 
ished extra care and attention, turned out to be a very 
