COMRADESHIP OF THE ROSE 



7 



For "living with the rose" is something more than the 

 mechanical operations involved in growing it, indispensable as 

 those operations are. This book deals succinctly and dispas- 

 sionately with those operations; striving to omit no item 

 of interest or importance, and, once launched on the 

 technique of rose-culture, "sticks to its last." But it is less 

 than just to this matchless flower to ignore ahogether the 

 refining, and even ennobhng, influences of rose-cuhure. Let 

 us merely hint at that! No true lover of roses ever rants. But, 

 if you want proof, study the face and deportment of your friend 

 who grows roses : see if there is not a particular stamp of seren- 

 ity, a certain sober poise, about him; deny if you can that he 

 has been touched by something a httle saner than the ordinary 

 concerns of hfe, something a Httle sweeter, something that is 

 visibly emancipating! 



But enough! That's the kind of thing over which the rose- 

 grower himself 

 would be the last 

 one to w^ax as- 

 sertive; indeed, 

 perhaps but dimly 

 reahzes it in him- 

 self. When he 

 fraternizes w i t h 

 other rose-cultur- 

 ists, however, ah, 

 then — then is the 

 truth made mani- 

 fest. The unmis- 

 takable "garden- 

 look" spirituahzes 

 these faces that 

 have exchanged 

 intimate glances 

 with the rose. 

 Perhaps as good a 

 way as any to 

 state the miracle 

 would be to trans- 



Nearly every child is fond of flowers 



