ROSES 189 



tropical flowers give to their native countries. And so 

 it is with the rose. In our climate we cannot grow 

 many of the beautiful shrubs which are so prized in the 

 gardens of Southern Europe, and our meadows and 

 hillsides cannot show the abundance and variety of 

 flowers that are found in Swiss meadows and hillsides, 

 but we have the rose, and with us it grows both wild 

 and cultivated with a freedom and beauty that are 

 nowhere surpassed. William Browne, in 1613, sang its 

 praises : 



4 A roee, as fair a* ever seen i* the North, 



(Jrew in a little garden all alone ; 

 A sweeter flower did nature ne'er put forth, 

 Nor fairer garden yet was never known.' 



And I am sure that there can be no more beautiful 

 sight in wild nature than an old English hedgerow 

 when the untrimmed dog-roses are in full flower, and no 

 garden can show more beauties in June and July than 

 an English garden well stored with roses of all kinds. 



But the wild roses give us a lesson in growing roses 

 in the garden. I do not like roses in pots or budded 

 on high standards. I know their uses when so grown, 

 and if I grew roses for exhibition I should perforce 

 grow them in one of those ways, but roses require to 

 be free and unrestrained to show their full beauty, and 

 roses grown as lasting ornaments in the garden can 



