EXHIBITING. 121 



However, until then we will persevere, and do all 

 in our power to secure as many medal blooms as we 

 can. Now, nearly every grower each year will secure 

 Roses worthy of the highest award; but, unfortunately, 

 when they are at their best, the show is either over or 

 not yet on, and so our would-be champions die untried. 

 This is sad, but all the same it is what we must expect, 

 and the higher the standard of perfection we attain in 

 cultivating Roses, the more often will this happen ; 

 indeed, I will go so far as to state that nearly every 

 large* grower at almost every show loses a medal only 

 by hours of undeveloped or over-developed growth. 

 But such hardly pay the same attention to their Roses 

 as does the small grower, for the production of a medal 

 bloom is with the latter more the result of untiring care 

 and good gardening. To such a one the excitement of 

 the show tent is immense, and the victory or defeat is 

 far more acutely felt than by him who has the command 

 of legions to draw from. It is for such that this 

 c'hapter is intended, and I trust that the following cul- 

 tural notes will be of service. 



The growing of a medal bloom — for we must take 

 the highest standard of perfection — commences with 

 the purchase of the tree, for everything depends upon 

 the quality of the standard, bush, or climber that is to 

 be planted. 



Every tree should possess at planting^ well-grown, 

 clean young shoots of one year's growth, that spring 

 from a base well incorporated with a stock which, in 

 its turn, is well supplied with clean, undamaged 

 fibrous roots. The variety selected should be budded 

 on to a stock most suited to its habit of growth, as also 

 the nature of the soil in which it is to be grown. 



Experience is the best adviser on this latter point, 

 although, as a general rule, the requirements of the 

 variety is the chief consideration in selecting the stock. 

 Most of our best H.P.s are grown on the Manetti, 

 which certainly produces more vigorous growth, and, 

 if it does not ensure longevity to the tree, yet the per- 



