134 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



The trees which were injured had not sufficient 

 protection ; and though my hope is gone of pro- 

 nouncing this glorious Rose to be perfectly hardy, 

 I feel sure that if the roots are well covered by 

 manure during the winter, and if the weather be 

 very severe, the upper growth be screened by a 

 few branches of fir or fronds of the common 

 bracken, we may preserve it always from fatal 

 injury, and almost always from any injury whatever. 

 If it dies, even then I should say: *"Tis better to 

 have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." 

 As to the best method of growing this variety, 

 there seemed to be at first some hesitation among 

 our Rose-merchants as to the propriety of a union 

 between such delicate beauty and that rough, wild 

 vagabond, the Jolly- Dog Rose ; and it was ** sent 

 out" generally budded or grafted upon the Man- 

 etti, or recently struck on its own roots, about the 

 size of a toothpick. We have since discovered 

 that, as fair damsels love stalwart knights, this 

 Rose grows and blooms most vigorously when 

 budded or grafted (in either case so low that the 

 Rose itself may ultimately be covered by the 

 soil and root in it) upon the Brier.* This is the 



* It is a curious fact that when Marechal Niel is budded on the 

 standard Brier, and thrives upon it, the Rose will ultimately outgrow 

 the stock, a large excrescence will be formed at the point of juncture, 

 and here a fatal decay will begin. 



