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CHAPTER XIX. 



A DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ROSES 

 IN COMMERCE. 



" Round the feast of fragrance rove 



But gently touch the Rose of Love." — Anacreon, 



In the compilation of this dictionary of Roses, 

 for such it really is, I have relied principally upon the 

 Rose-growing trade of this country to supply me with 

 information as to varieties grown and in commerce 

 to-day, and also on my good friends Messrs. Kitten Bros. 



To my great surprise, I find that very few of our 

 British Nurseries make the effort to keep alive the 

 Roses of the past. The craze is for something new, 

 for novelties that will sell, and while every effort is 

 made by our growers to produce the best, and only 

 to put on the market the finest of Roses, yet it is 

 distressing to find so few who will preserve the Roses 

 of yesterday. As in everything else, so in Roses we 

 Britishers have to cross the Channel before w^e wake 

 up. N^ot that we cede the palm to anyone for flowers 

 or goods as superior to those that are British-grown 

 or British-made : but we do not know how to take 

 care of what we have got, or even to dispose of to 

 the best advantage the products of our country. 



It vexes mc to find Continental growers teaching 

 us our own business : I dare not ignore their lists and 

 catalogues, although this work cannot accept the hall- 

 mark of all their goods. But when you find firms 

 and growers listing old varieties, raised in tliis country, 

 which were sent out by our own nurserymen in the 

 past but now have been discarded, you are obliged to 

 take notice, for they will most certainly find their way 

 home. 



