THE FLORAL WORLD 



AND 



GARDEN GUIDE. 



AIJaUSi\ 186 



EOSES m 186: 



E are so accustomed to speak of the unfavourable circum- 

 stances to which roses have been exposed, that we 

 might ahnost repeat for 180 7 the report of any previous 

 year in the past nine volumes of the Floral Woeld. 

 If the reader should be curious on the subject, he will 

 find, no doubt, that in our annual reports we have invariably bad to 

 speak of untoward influences and unkindness of the elements, and 

 more or less damage to roses, and consequent imperfections of exhi- 

 bitions. The fact is, we always have bad weather at some time 

 between the 1st of March and the 1st of July, and those four 

 months are the most critical of the whole twelve in the growth of 

 the rose ; acd the plant is too susceptible of injury by ungenial 

 conditions of the atmosphere, to pass through any trial in its four 

 months of special and peculiar activity without being hurt. In the 

 year 1867, east winds, cold and dry, prevailed in April, and in the 

 very middle of May we had a severe frost. June had passed and 

 gone ere there was to be found in any part of England a truly 

 luxurious bloom ; even on the 29th, when the Crystal Palace show 

 took place, there were so few good roses, that amateur exhibitors 

 came to the mark with evident inefiBcieucy ; and in the stands of the 

 greatest trade*- cultivators faulty flowers were everywhere to be 

 found. On the 6th of July, when the great Birmingham rose show 

 took place, the flowers were just right. There had been a few warm 

 showers two or three days previous to the show, and these rendered 

 most seasonable aid. Throughout the whole of the vast display in 

 the Town Hall, Birmingham, comprising thousands of flowers, there 

 was scarcely a faulty one to be found, and certainly there was not 

 one really bad collection, so even — speaking with proper reservation 

 — were the contributions throughout. 



Probably we have not done with rose shows yet this season. 

 The Crystal Palace directors have had seriously in consideration the 

 holding of an autumnal exhibition, but at the moment of writing 

 this we are not aware if they have arrived at any decision. Cer- 

 tainly, an autumnal exhibition of roses might be highly serviceable, 



TOL. II. — NO. YIII. 15 



