CONCERNING ROSE-SHOWS. 219 



Company resolved, upon this, to have a Rose-show of their 

 own. Long may it prosper ! 



The Fourth National Rose-Show was held under the 

 auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society in their gardens 

 at South Kensington, July 10, 1861, and there it has since 

 flourished in all its first strength and beauty. I was very 

 grateful to find such a genial soil and excellent supervision 

 for a plant which was growing rather too large for me — 

 that is, to transfer to abler hands a work which, with all its 

 gratifications, interfered at times unduly with my other 

 engagements. Moreover, to tell you all the truth, in the 

 happy spring-tide of 1861 I had a correspondence which 

 occupied all my time, upon a subject which occupied all 

 my thought — a subject more precious, more lovely even 

 than Roses — I was going to be married in May. 



Have I created in thy breast, O amateur, a desire to win 

 honour at Queen Rosa's tournaments ? Have you an ambi- 

 tion to see upon your sideboard cups of silver encircled by 

 the Rose ? Listen, and I will now tell you what Roses to 

 show, and how to show them. 



