122 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE CHAP. 
packing of them takes some time, and I should 
advise the making of a rule that whoever asks for 
buds by post should send labels with the names and 
the number of buds required, as this will save some 
trouble at least. From budding Roses, the amateur 
will very likely be led on to budding his own 
Apples on Paradise, and his own Plums and other 
fruit-trees, and his interest in all these features 
of the garden will be much increased when his 
own hands have thus propagated his fruits and his 
flowers. 
I would strongly advise the enthusiastic amateur, 
if he lives quite in the country and has plenty of 
room, to get and raise his own stocks. Not only 
because it will greatly add to the interest of the 
matter and save expense, but also because the 
stocks themselves, especially standards, will be 
stronger and better. A sufficient number can be 
raised every year by one man to keep up a collection 
of Roses large enough to enable him to show in 
the highest amateur classes. As standards un- 
doubtedly produce as a rule the finest Tea Roses, 
and there are probably few amateurs who personally 
get their own stocks from the hedges, I will 
endeavour to describe my mode of procedure. 
First, as to outfit :—I never had any special suit, 
but an old one each year is condemned to the work, 
and verily it is never likely to be used for anything 
else afterwards. In a short time it is more fitted 
for a scarecrow than a parson, but my craze is 
known, and I keep to the fields. Anold hat capable 
of protecting the ears is necessary, for you must get 
your head into the very thick of it; and strong 
boots and gaiters will of course be required. One 
