48 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



say ; " it is more like heaven than earth." Or, with Milton, 

 we ask in reverent wonder, — 



*' What if earth 

 Be but the shadow of heaven, and things herein 

 Each to each other like, more than on earth is thought ?" 



and our prayers go up, as the incense from the Rose, for 

 purer eyes and hearts. 



We have nothing in the whole range of floriculture so 

 completely charming as a Rosary in " the time of Roses." 

 A grower of most flowers, and a lover of all, I know of 

 none which can compete with the Rose for colour, form, 

 and fragrance, jointly, whether en masse or in single blooms. 

 *' Orchids," do I hear .'' Well, I have stood before Laelia 

 purpurata in an ecstasy of admiration, until, the flower-show 

 being crowded, the police have requested me to move on. 

 Not long ago I lost half my dinner because my eyes would 

 wander from my plate to a Lycaste Skinneri some distance 

 up the table ; and I appreciate generally with a fond delight 

 the delicacy, the refinement, the brilliancy of this lovely 

 class. It is the aristocracy, but not the queen of the flowers. 

 Regarding the two collectively, there is never to be found 

 in the orchid -house the simultaneous splendour of the 

 Rosary in July — the abundant glistening foliage, the sweet 



