AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY—At present I consider it a detriment to the 
best interests of the amateur for in spite of the large sum of money taken 
in it is definitely not open forum, for instance I would not be allowed to 
say anything in it unless Dr. Allen emasculated what I said. Large rose soc- 
ieties are positively against the best interest of the rose grower as usual- 
ly the old wood in them is very vindictive, to me at least and does 
much harm in this manner, they, because of having grown roses a 
long time are presupposed to know all about roses and so are but- 
tered up by sending roses to them for TESTING, with the result 
that they in effect are bribed. Then test gardens lose their effectivness, 
in that they are no longer test gardens but merely sales yards. For the 
newest gadgets put out, as for instance the one in Portland, Ore., has huge 
beds of the latest gadgets put in before they are put on the market so 
that they are already plugging when the NEW? rose is released, otherwise 
how could they be there for the first season advertising of this or that 
pseudo new Rose? Then really good older roses that are not patented are 
taken out such as Soure Therese, Brazier was on its way out when com- 
plaints from rosarians who heard of it stopped it. Then such outstanding 
Roses as Souv. Mme. Boullet with its long Orange Bud (under proper 
growing conditions where it is left grow large) does not even find a bed 
in this Pseudo test garden as it is not patented. 
I have repeatedly contended as in my book that the controls of a test 
garden should be in persons who are economically secure—an illustration 
would be either persons retired or the clergy as the rose has gotten to be a 
big thing commercially and the small grower as well as the public suffers 
from bought and paid for test gardens when they should be controlled en- 
tirely by an amateur operated rose society and I do not mean as the Ameri- 
can rose society is operated at present where there are no published audits 
or inonies spent nor controls of junkets for officials. THE MONIES TAK- 
EN IN BY THE AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY SHOULD BE USED ONLY 
FOR THE PURPOSE OF OPERATING A SOCIETY CONTROLLED TEST 
GARDEN AT VARIOUS POINTS where, as in my book all new roses are 
tested right alongside of the good tried and true varieties, then we will 
have cataiogs like the English that list hundred Year old varieties on the 
Same page as the newest, and roses will have to be proved to unbiased 
Amateurs. 
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