PREFACE 



One of the surest signs of the great and ever-growing 

 interest in gardening is to be seen in the remarkable 

 improvement in the kinds of flowers that are now 

 to be had. New plants are being constantly intro- 

 duced ; good old plants, of late forgotten, are again 

 brought forward, and a lively and wholesome com- 

 petitive industry has increased among growers in the 

 improvement of garden flowers. In no class of plant 

 is this more apparent than among the Roses. The 

 increasing desire to deck our gardens pictorially has 

 been met by a truly surprising and successful series 

 of efforts on the part of raisers, so that now, in 

 addition to the older classes of Roses that have been 

 available for the last forty years, namely, the Hy- 

 brid Perpetuals and Teas, there are already, in great 

 variety, quantities of beautiful new Roses of mixed 

 parentage for every possible use and purpose. 



The time having come when there is a distinct 

 need for a book that shall not only show how Roses 

 may best be grown, but how they may be most 

 beautifully used, and that will also help the amateur 

 to acquire some idea of their nature and relation- 

 ships, the present volume, with its large amount 

 of illustration, is offered in the hope that it will 



