THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



It is a common saying that the love of flowers is 

 universal; and it is not surprising, seeing that the 

 tendency of the age is to subdivide occupations and 

 interests and make men specialists in smaller branches 

 of subjects, that certain flowers have been selected for 

 cultivation by persons who have given all their leisure, 

 or even the whole of their time, to the study of them. 

 As the Rose has been entitled the queen of flowers 

 without serious dispute for nearly twenty-five centuries, 

 special subjects of such a queen may naturally be 

 looked for; and they may be found among such as 

 style themselves Rosarians, who endeavour to cultivate 

 the Rose in such a manner as to get the finest and 

 most beautiful blooms. 



One would naturally suppose that those who study 

 and pursue this subject might be credited with a 

 special knowledge of it at least, if not with some 

 authority; but, oddly enough, a certain number of 

 writers on general horticulture are never weary of 

 recounting the errors and absurdities of Rose-growers 



B 



