2/8 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



quality, they formed but a small item of the exhibition, 

 they had, of course, no special claims ; but this indifference 

 unhappily prevailed long after the Rose had become a chief 

 attraction in our summer shows, and even where it was the 

 only flower exhibited. At our great Rose-shows we have 

 succeeded in eliminating from the halls of justice incom- 

 petent judges ; but elsewhere the Rosarian takes with his 

 Roses a very anxious heart In the summer of 1868 one 

 of our most successful competitors, a Leicestershire clergy- 

 man, who had just won two first - prizes at the Crystal 

 Palace, took some Roses equally good to a show at Burton- 

 upon-Trent. Facile princeps, he was not even commended ; 

 and on remonstrating, was informed by one of the judges 

 that his Roses, to which precedence had been given at a 

 national contest, " were not the right sorts for exhibition^ 

 The fact is, that three varieties of censors are still appointed 

 over the Roses at our provincial shows. There is the man 

 who loves them, knows and grows them well — his judgments 

 will be right. There is the man who is a clever florist and 

 grows Roses partially — his judgments will be generally 

 right, but if the collections are large or numerous, or nearly 

 equal in merit, he will be perplexed to incapacity. Thirdly, 

 there is the man appointed to be judge of the Roses be- 



