POSITION. 57 



tree, can never hope to thrive. In a twofold sense it takes 

 umbrage ; robbed above and robbed below, robbed by 

 branches of sunshine and by roots of soil, it sickens, droops, 

 and dies. A Rose under trees can no more flourish than a 

 deer can get a good " head " who never leaves the forest for 

 the moor. 



These regicides were none the less correctly told — both 

 those who kill by suffocation, and those who starve our 

 Queen to death — that the Rose must have a free circula- 

 tion of air, and likewise repose and rest. The directions 

 may seem to be incongruous, but they can be, and must 

 be, followed. The Rosarium must be both exposed and 

 sheltered ; a place both of sunshine and of shade. The 

 centre must be clear and open, around it the protecting 

 screen. It must be a fold wherein the sun shines warmly 

 on the sheep, and the wind is tempered to the shorn lamb ; 

 a haven in which the soft breeze flutters the sail, but over 

 which the tempest roars, and against whose piers the billow 

 hurls itself in vain. 



And this may, I think, be taken consequently as a golden 

 rule in the formation of a Rose-garden : so arrange it that 

 a large proportion of your trees may have the sunshine on 

 them from its rise to the meridian, and after that time be in 



