134 EOSES FOE DECOEATIONS. 



city man going to his club with a full bloom of Paul 

 Neron in his coat, or of William Sheen, Her Majesty, 

 or Mildred Grant; but a beautiful bud of Homer, 

 Richmond, Marie Van Houtte, or Auguste Comte — 

 yes I 



We get very particular as we become connoisseurs 

 of Roses ; I have often gone out into the garden for 

 a buttonhole, and wandered round hundreds of trees 

 in bloom to find what I wanted, and, when found, have 

 discarded it for something I liked better. 



If you were to make up a hundred buttonholes of 

 a morning from your Rose garden, and then lay them 

 all out upon a table, your choice would be found to 

 rest between three or four at the most ; as much as 

 you might like all the rest, yet there will ever be found 

 points that will command themselves to you, and 

 these, to a certain extent, will vary with the day. A 

 red Rose on a very hot day will give place to a white 

 or a pink variety, and on a very cold day vice versa. 

 A Rose, too, according to colour, will attract more at 

 certain times of the day ; this seems to be incredible, 

 but it is so ; and I take it that choice of colour largely 

 depends upon the light that does it justice and the 

 state of our health. Yellow Roses never show at their 

 best in the evening, especially with artificial light, but 

 reds are superb. Shades of pink are of the morning 

 choice, yellow mid-day, w^hite afternoon. 



It is an interesting study, and there is a lot in it. 

 As I have said, state of health will to a large extent 

 influence our choice of colour; temperament, too, is 

 a ruling factor; such point fo Vvery careful selection. 

 A Rose to all of us is welcome in any colour, like the 

 highlander who declared that there was no such thing 

 as bad whisky, but that some brands were better than 

 others ; so we declare it to be the case with the Rose. 

 Yes, and the buttonhole Rose ; but as I have been 

 pointing out, there is need for variety. For instance, 

 as much as you may love the Rose, you would not 

 always wish to wear one variety. I am constant in 



