262 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



after they have been placed in the tube. Turn your Rose 

 slowly round before you finally fix it, so that you may pre- 

 sent it in its most attractive phase to the censor. I have 

 seen Roses looking anywhere but at the judge, as though 

 they had no hopes of mercy. 



Do not be induced to admit a Rose only because it is 

 new, or because it has some one point of excellence, being 

 defective in others — e.g., a Rose ill formed because it is 

 brilliant in colour, or a dull coarse bloom on account of its 

 size. The judge will be down upon that invalid swiftly and 

 surely, as a fox upon a sick partridge. 



Nor place two Roses together which are both deficient in 

 foliage. Give to each of them the rather a neighbour like 

 Madame Boll, whose abundant and flowing curls may par- 

 tially conceal their baldness. But add no leaves, though 

 the temptation be great, because that same judge is quick 

 as a barber to distinguish between natural and artificial 

 hair, and there may be "wigs on the green" — i.e., you may 

 find your surreptitious foliage lying upon the moss, and a 

 card, with *' Disqualified " written upon it, staring you in 

 the face. 



Step back from time to time, as the artist from his easel, 

 to criticise your picture, and try to improve it. And when 



