CHAPTER XI 



OLD AND NEW ROSES 



L OSES have been iden- 

 tified with Eng- 

 land since be- 

 fore the time of 

 gardens, and in that damp 

 and rather sunless isle they 

 flourish exceedingly, claim- 

 ing more attention than any other flower, 

 and blooming profusely for five months 

 in the year. An Englishman uses Roses 

 everywhere; to him they are emblems, 

 and the chief delight of the countryside 

 where he passes the better part of his 

 life. He trains them over his house and 

 porch, and upon the high walls with 

 which he delights to surround himself, 

 and arches them over the garden paths- 

 he makes hedges of them and colonizes 

 them by themselves in Rose gardens, 



209 



