CH. XI EXHIBITING 205 
competent and impartial judge, or better still, 
actually tested at a show, the assertion loses weight, 
as his standard of excellence may be a low one. 
It is odd to notice how generally those Rose lovers 
who do not exhibit are set against Rose shows, and 
have hardly a good word to say for them. Accord- 
ing to these critics the least lovely of Roses are most 
shown and encouraged, the manner of exhibition is 
faulty, the grace and beauty of the flowers are lost 
and the public taste is generally led astray. Even 
the accusation of ignorance is sometimes laid at the 
doors of men who have made the Rose the study of 
their lives, though such a charge naturally defeats 
itself. 
It is not unlikely that some good has been done 
to the Rose and to Rose-showing by such critics. Any 
cause is purified and strengthened by a little healthy 
opposition: there may be a grain of truth here and 
there in the sweeping charges made, and there is no 
doubt that a mania for exhibition does sometimes 
tend to the destruction of good useful types, and to 
the setting up of unnatural and undesirable ideals. 
It is, perhaps, owing to a reaction against show 
Roses of approved form that there has been of late a 
good deal of interest taken in what are called 
‘“‘ garden” Roses. These were originally old varieties, 
superseded as florist’s flowers, but still cherished by 
some from sentiment and love of the old-fashioned, 
or memories of childhood. 
An immense number of new Roses are put forth 
every year, and those few only survive which stand 
the test and prove superior in comparison with 
existing varieties. A very small proportion indeed 
of those thus failing in the struggle for existence are 
