CAUSES OF FAILURE. 5 



twenty years ago by the dozen they are grown by the 

 thousand, and where by the thousand now by the acre. 



But now comes a most important question, — Have we 

 beautiful Roses in proportion to this great multipHcation 

 of Rose-trees ? The printer will oblige me by selecting a 

 brace of his biggest and blackest capitals, with which I may 

 reply emphatically, NO. It is indeed, at first sight, a 

 marv^el and perplexity, that while the love of Roses is 

 professed so generally — while the demand for Rose-trees has 

 increased so extensively, and the flower itself has every 

 year disclosed some new and progressive charm — Roses 

 should be so rarely seen in their full and perfect beauty. 

 Queen Rosa, in common with other potentates, has greatly 

 enlarged her armies, but how few young officers have as 

 yet distinguished themselves fighting in the wars of the 

 Roses ! We all regard as our Commander-in-Chief that 

 veteran hero, Rivers of Sawbridgeworth, who, although he 

 has retired from active service, from competitive to com- 

 mercial Rose-growing, still issues, in his 'Guide to Amateurs,' 

 those orders and wise counsels which lead to victory. Age 

 cannot wither his loyalty, and beneath a hundred medals, 

 orders, and clasps, his brave heart is still with the Rose. 

 The names of the generals who were eminent when I first 



