Il8 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



'* Where order in variety we see, 

 And where, though all things differ, all agree." 



Were it my privilege to lay out an extensive Rose-garden, 

 I should desire a piece of broken natural ground, sur- 

 rounded on all sides but the south with sloping banks, 

 "green and of mild declivity," on which evergreen shrubs 

 should screen and beautify by contrast the Roses blooming 

 beneath ; and in the centre I should have, at irregular 

 intervals, Rose-clad mounds high enough to obstruct the 

 view even of Arba, great among the Anakims, which would 

 enable me to surprise, to vary, and to conceal, according to 

 the golden rule which I have before quoted. On the level 

 from which these mounds arose would be the beds and 

 single specimens ; at the corners, my bowers and nooks. 

 All the interior space not occupied by Roses should be 

 turf — "nothing," writes Lord Bacon, "is more pleasant 

 to the eye than green grass kept finely shorn " — and 

 this always broad enough for the easy operations of 

 the mowing - machine, and for the trailing garments 

 (they don't trail now, but who can tell what La Mode 

 may ordain next summer.?) of those bright visitors, the 

 only beings upon earth more beautiful than the Rose 

 itself. 



