134 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



its exquisite Roses, I will say no more. A climbing Rose- 

 tree is the one which should be least accessible to destruc- . 

 tive influence, seeing that the sad signs of decay and death 

 are more painfully and prominently displayed upon it, and 

 the harm done less quickly repaired. The frost of Christ- 

 mas Eve, i860, killed Rose-trees to the ground which had 

 covered my house for years. Would Marechal Niel abide 

 such an ordeal as that ? There is good reason for the anti- 

 cipation in the following statement, which appeared in the 

 Gardeners Oironicle of January 19, 1867. The writer, Mr 

 Godwin of the Rosarium, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, reports : 

 <' The frost here, in the valley of the Dove, on the nights of 

 the 2d and the 14th, equalled in intensity that of the 

 memorable Christmas Eve of i860, when the thermometer 

 fell some 6° below zero ; and at present it appears to have 

 done its work nearly as effectively. The tender tribes of 

 Noisette, Bourbon, and Tea Roses on the low grounds 

 appear to be all killed. We are, however, delighted to see 

 our old and valued friend, Gloire de Dijon, entirely un- 

 scathed ; and, better still, Marechal Niel, the best of the 

 Yellows, seems none the worse for the trying ordeal to 

 which he has been subjected." And again, in the same 

 publication. May 25, 1867, the editor, referring to a bloom 



