STANDARD ROSES 53 



terious about standards; that is probably the reason 

 why so many of us still have an affection for them in 

 spite of the hard criticism to which, from time to time, 

 they have been subjected. You may plant half a dozen 

 and all will thrive exceedingly, delighting the grower, in 

 due time, with lusty leaves and a full show of bloom. 

 But you may plant another half-dozen, and they will 

 dwindle and die, or grow half-heartedly and miserably, 

 with none of the real joy of life that distinguishes a 

 healthy rose, and this in spite of the best attentions. 

 You may coax them with dainty morsels in the shape 

 of fertilisers guaranteed to imbue them with the vigour 

 of a summer cabbage, you may have recourse to severer 

 measures in the form of hard pruning, yet all to no pur- 

 pose. They give no satisfaction, which would be bearable 

 if one could only discover the cause and remove it, but, 

 like a person in the sulks, having apparently all they need, 

 except, perhaps, the unattainable, they will not be 

 pleasant and report progress. The bother of it is that you 

 can find no good reason for their failure. 



Because of this disturbing characteristic, I am not 

 sure that the ordinary standard rose is to be recom- 

 mended to the beginner. The weeping standard may 

 be commended whole-heartedly, but the ordinary kind 

 only with reservations, namely, that a careful selection of 

 varieties be made. Fortunately, a number of roses are 

 very generally reliable, but there are others that may or 

 may not succeed, and some that positively will not. 

 Whether it is that they object to being put upon a stem 

 which they cannot possibly hide, and so die of shame at 



