ROSES FOR EXHIBITION. 223 



that he might work at his new book on beetles), " will I 

 inform a curiosity so honourable, so rare in youth. I pro- 

 pose, therefore — avoiding all prolixity, repetition, tautology, 

 periphrasis, circumlocution, and superfluous verbosity — to 

 divide the subject into forty-seven sections," &c. &c. &c. 



Leaving him at it, let us be content to know that a Show- 

 Rose should possess — 



1. Beauty of form — petals, abundant and of good sub- 

 stance, regularly and gracefully disposed within a circular 

 symmetrical outline. 



2. Beauty of colour — brilliancy, purity, endurance. And, 



3. That the Rose, having both these qualities, must be 

 exhibited in the most perfect phase of its beauty, and in the 

 fullest development to which skill and care can bring it. 



Of course I do not presume, reverting to the shape of a 

 Show-Rose, to propose stereotyped definitions or uniform 

 models. On the contrary, I am well aware that whether 

 the surface of a Rose be globular, cupped, or expanded, 

 and whether its petals be convex or concave, a perfect 

 gracefulness of form is attainable. My own ideal is the 

 globular — the outer petals regularly overlapping each other, 

 and surrounding an abundance of central leaflets of a 

 deeper, ruddier tint, as seen, for instance, in Blairii 2, before 



