464 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
gi'afts are taken. He is constantly adding and testing new 
and untried varieties and in this he is largely assisted by the 
United States Govenunent from which he receives and tests 
many new varieties. 
To the lover of rare and unusual trees and shrubs, the 
nurseries are a paradise. Beautiful specimens of Cedrus 
Atlantica glauca ten to twenty feet high are numerous and 
these plants seem to have a more bushy habit than those 
which we find growing in the east. 
Near the office is growing a specimen of the Matilija 
Poppy, Romneya Coulteri, It must be ten feet high and as 
much as nine broad. All summer it is covered with a great 
mass of large white flowers, many of these flowers measuring 
eight inches in diameter. 
The office of the California Nursery Company is a large, 
low, roomy building, built of concrete. It was planned with 
the idea of convenience and economy in handling the business 
of the company. Passing through the front door you enter 
the main or receiving room. On either side of this are 
situated the several private rooms of the officers. 
ROSES 
Portion of Paper Read Before Meeting of the Mississippi 
Nurserymen’s Association 
By S. W. CROWELL, Roseacres, Miss. 
Throughout the whole range of ornamental plant life no 
section has received the attention of the hybridizer as has 
been given the rose during the past twenty-five years. Each 
season finds more than one hundred new varieties placed on 
the market by growers in this country and abroad, each and 
all struggling for favor. However, the majority of these new 
acquisitions come from abroad after having been grown and 
tested out as to their reliability as a forcing or bedding rose. 
Possibly it is well that few of the new varieties find their way 
into commerce. If each variety sent out were worthy of con¬ 
tinued propagation, the grower’s head would swim in a sea of 
perplexity, and further troubles would be added to the present 
minor troubles that are ever present throughout the process 
of manufacturing the finished plant. 
As my subject is rather a broad one, I feel that you would 
be interested more in one branch of this subject rather than 
in the endeavor to cover the whole, and I am sure that no one 
part connected with the growing of roses for commercial 
purposes holds greater interest than the pleasure afforded in 
trying out the new roses each season and comparing them 
with their sectional types of the old familiar varieties. For¬ 
tunately for those living in the South and having the inspira¬ 
tion and the desire to build and plant for the “home beauti¬ 
ful,’’ the most desirable and beautiful types of the rose family 
are at their best in this climate. We have roses suited to 
every soil and condition and purpose for which we may desire 
to use them. To keep abreast with the times it is necessary 
to produce and offer to the buyer the best variety of plant in 
any given section, and this can only be done when each 
grower has this knowledge from actual experience and is 
actually familiar with the mannerisms of each individual 
variety he offers to the public. Of course, those who test these 
new varieties each year and make a specialty of growing 
novelties, may in a measiue, let their experience and observa¬ 
tions take the place of the seller’s knowledge, but those who 
deal in novelties of any description are usually prone to color 
their subjects with a more roseate hue than the variety 
merits. To overcome this condition all growers should have 
their test or trial grounds, selecting each season a few of the 
leading varieties that have passed into the meritorious group 
of roses that have been rated high by competent judges at the 
various rose shows in this country and abroad, or rather buy 
from the leading firms in this country who have tried out the 
better varieties several seasons, and are competent to judge 
varieties of merit as they appear from year to year. 
For about twenty years I have made the practice of buying 
from fifty to one hundred varieties of roses each season, two 
or more plants of a kind, and these have been planted out 
under noniial conditions, receiving only the same care as 
given the regular sales plants. This is a work of the keenest 
pleasure, and I always look forward to the first blooming 
period with much delight though often with many misgivings, 
for I frequently find that many sorts heralded “as the best of 
its color,’’ etc., is a mediocre variety in every sense in this 
climate, while some not talked of much variety shows merit 
and class in every respect. To illustrate, Antoine Rivoire, 
introduced in 1896 by Pemet-Ducher, failed to make any 
headway for some years, and only recently it has come into 
favor as a forcing rose under the erroneous name of Prince de 
Bulgarie. This is one of the best roses grown, but is now only 
planted in a small way in the South. One of the largest rose 
firms in this country discarded Mme. Jules Grolez before they 
found out that it was really one of the best roses of its color, (a 
deep clear rose.) And so it goes right down the line, there 
being many, many instances to my own knowledge of our 
best roses having been held in disfavor or in the background 
simply because the nurseryman was not familiar with the 
really good things connected with his business. To overcome 
this, have a test ground by all means, thereby adding pleasure, 
to your every day life and profit to your business. 
I will enumerate a few varieties of the newerjor little 
known _roses that][l have tested out thoroughly, and know 
