220 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



resolved, upon this, to have a Rose- Show of their 



own. Long may it prosper ! 



The Fourth National Rose- Show was held un- 

 der the auspices of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society in their gardens at South Kensington, 

 July lo, 1861. 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. 



From that date to the year 1877, the National 

 Rose-show was held at Kensington, but since the 

 establishment of the National Rose Society, it has 

 become an independent exhibition ; and in this 

 present summer (1880) this Society has held its 

 annual festivals, first at the Crystal Palace, on July 

 3d, and then at Manchester, July 17th, — thus giv- 

 ing to all Rosarians, north and south, an oppor- 

 tunity of winning its prizes. 



Have I created in thy breast, O amateur, a de- 



