Book  (Apr 1993)  Page(s) 282.  
 
J.W. Fargo Species, medium pink, R. arkansana variety. Description.

Book  (1983)  
 
Claude A. Barr: A kindly old gentleman, the late J.W. Fargo, led me across a secret ridge crest on his property in the southern tip of the Black Hills, where grew a double wild rose in a colony of perhaps 50 plants. I was told I might dig freely, on condition that I distributed the rare gem under his, the discoverer's name. Sent to the late F.L. Skinner, the noted originator of lilies, roses, and other hardy plants in Dropmore, Manitoba, they were pronounced the best double wild rose he had seen. The flower is larger than the normal single form, having about 40 petals, more than two rows of them large, with inner petals grading to tiny, all opening to show the golden centre. The free-flowering peak is reached in early July. The Fargo rose uses the Rosa arkansana trick of sending up a strong shoot from the ground to prolong its season with a wide corymb opening gradually over many days. The fragrance of this rose is mild and fine.

Book  (1964)  Page(s) 165.  
 
[In "A Little Bit of Rose Breeding" by F. L. Skinner,Dropmore, Manitoba, Canada:]
...Lately I have been more successful with its [Rosa suffulta's] more southern relative, 'W. J. Fargo,' a double rose of good form and clear pink color. Like most hybrid roses where one parent is a species, the hybrids of 'W. J. Fargo' have been slow in reaching the flowering stage, but the two that flowered in 1962 promise to be fertile, so this experiment can be carried through at least another generation. 'W. J. Fargo' accepted the pollen of such varieties as hybrids of the china rose and of R. laxa hybrids, showing a wide range of compatibility.

Website/Catalog  (1958)  Page(s) 10.  
 
J. W. Fargo Rose. - A variety of R. arkansana. Flowers in clusters of wild rose pink in July. Much branched to 20 inches in height. Each.....$1.50