408 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
FRENCH NURSERY TRADE AND THE WAR 
(Continued from page 403) 
jiortation. Tariff and Legislation, as we have done for 
them in the past five years? 
Without attributing ulterior motives to anyone, it 
^\ould appear that you either acted on a wrong transla¬ 
tion of our article, or that you did not understand it cor¬ 
rectly. Th(‘ article \vas written for American firms and 
we should not be blamed if some in France misunder- 
.stood it, or tried to make “a storm in a teacup.” 
Our opinion was asked by “The National Nurseryman” 
because they knew our reply would be honest and re¬ 
liable. To have given positive assurances in August that 
any European country would be able to make shipments, 
would have damaged our reputation for reliability—and 
we are not that kind of people. We hope our Angers and 
Orleans friends will come out of this terrible struggle 
uninjured in property or person and in tbe meantime we 
assure you that we continue, in every legitimate way, to 
protect and strengthen your interests here. 
Saint Cloud, Minnesota, October 10, 1914. 
The European war does not seem to affect our bus¬ 
iness. We have done a larger business this season than 
last. We operate almost exclusively in Minnesota, and 
have a few scattering agents in North and South Dakota, 
Iowa and Illinois. 
Yours very truly. 
The St. Cloud Nursery Co.;, 
S. H. Gamble, Sec’y. 
BOOK 
Saturday's Child by Kathleen Norris. Author of 
“Mother,” “The Treasure,” etc. With frontispiece in 
colors by F. Graham Cootes. Decorated cloth 12mo. 
Publishers MacMillan Co., 66 6th Avenue, New York. 
Price net $1.60. The title of this novel,—“Friday’s child 
is loving and giving, Saturday’s child must work for her 
living,” at once indicates its theme. 
October 8th, 1914. 
D. M. Andrews, 
Roulder, Colorado. 
Dear Sir:— 
Your interesting card with reference to Rosa Arkan- 
sana is received. Botanical knowledge with regard to 
our wild roses seems to us to be rather limited and very 
unreliable. We are not well supplied with botanical 
works and rely principally on Bailey’s Cyclopedia of Hor¬ 
ticulture. In this work there is quite a lengthy article on 
roses by Alfred Rehder. He gives old description of wild 
roses and we find Rosa Virginiana, Mill. (R. blanda, Ait., 
R. fraxinifotia, Borkh.) This is described as a 6 to 7 
foliate rose. Rosa Arkansasa Porter, {R. blanda var. seti- 
gera, Crep. Rosa Arkansasa, Best). This is described as 
a 7 to 9 foliate leaf rose. 
Three years ago we bought Rosa blanda from Biltmore 
nursery, Biltmore, N. C., and it is the same rose we find 
growing here that we call Rosa Arkansana (blanda). Ac¬ 
cording to the botanists referred to above, the R. Arkan¬ 
sana (blanda) grows native from Minnesota and British 
Columbia to New Mexico. According to E. L. Greene the 
true R. Arkansana is restricted to Colorado and jierhaps 
New Mexico and the form w e have in the north and west 
he proposes to name R. pratincola. 
We are striving to develop a botanical nursery and are 
finding it a difficult proposition to get stocks botanically 
correct. Tbe most discouraging feature is the almost ut¬ 
ter indifference of the retail buyer. If he asks for R. 
blanda he does not seem to care whether R. Virginiana or 
R. Arkansana is sent him and to save a few cents on his 
order he will get a farmer to dig him wild roses from the 
w^oods, even if such buyer is a millionaire, as all wild 
roses look alike to him. How ever, we believe tbe time is 
at hand w hen one small nursery can be successfully run 
on high lines botanically. We are beginning to make a 
collection of w ihl roses not only locally but from all 
sources. The native Rosa Carolina as we find it here is 
of several distinct types. R. Carolina we bought from 
the Biltmore Nursery, we think is genuine Carolina, and 
is a good type, but differs slightly from our best type. 
As we get these collections of any one type growing un¬ 
der cultivation in our nursery, we can select out the best 
type of the variety and then propagate them for sale. 
We note you catalogue Rosa Sayi and Rosa Engle- 
manni. These two are classed by some botanists as var¬ 
ieties of the Rosa acicularis. 
Very truly yours, 
Henry Lake Sons Co. 
It is a good sign when nurserymen begin to take an in¬ 
terest in tbe botanical names of the plants they handle 
with a view of getting them correct or at least as near as 
it is possible. 
It is a sign that the purchasing public is becoming more 
discriminating and the nurseryman is rising to the occa¬ 
sion. 
The ignorance and indifference of the retail buyer is 
largely responsible for the reprehensible practice of sub¬ 
stitution because the nurseryman realizes that nine times 
out of ten the customer is not concerned with the iden¬ 
tity of the plant so much as the effect it would give, but 
the time is coming when the buyer will have a better 
knowdedge of plants and he will order by botanical name 
and expect to get what he orders. 
The cut flower buyer of today specifies bis roses or 
carnations by name. The fruit growler the variety of 
fruit. Paeonies, roses, in fact any plant with which the 
buying public lias become acquainted the nurseryman 
substitutes at the risk of losing his reputation for honest 
dealing. 
The buying public will soon become just as discrimin¬ 
ating with trees and shrubs and if Calycanthus floridus is 
ordered will not be satisfied with C. laevigatas or if 
Philadelphus coronarius with any kind of a Mock 
Orange. 
It is perha])S too soon to expect great financial returns 
from a botanical nursery but tbe nurseryman that is as 
exact as possible in plant nomenclature does much to ed¬ 
ucate the puhlic and is working for better conditions by 
which all will benefit.— Editor. 
