CHRISTMAS "AND LENTEN ROSES 79 



Crimson Ramblers. It is single. But, after all, there 

 are single Roses as well as doubles, and I have a single 

 white Rose that is absurdly like the white Helleborus. 

 The " coiner " had not that particular variety in his 

 mind, because it is a modern variety, but he had another 

 something like it. 



The word "Christmas" completes the charm. It 

 wins our hearts and interest at once. The veriest 

 Scrooge must admit its power when allied with a 

 beautiful flower. There are two things inseparable 

 from the popular conception of a cheerful Christmas 

 a roaring fire and a well-laid table. In the old days, 

 according to every popular writer, the table " groaned " 

 under its burden of turkey, roast beef, pudding, and 

 other comestibles. Now, a groan is a sound of distress, 

 and if a table of a normally cheerful disposition really 

 did emit a note of agony (which I for one take leave to 

 doubt), it was not because it had to bear an extra burden 

 once a year it would have done that cheerfully enough 

 but because it deplored the absence of delicate and 

 refined touches. Anyway, no self-respecting Christmas 

 table will be satisfied with a sprig or two of holly now- 

 adays. There must be a plentiful supply of bowls and 

 vases of flowers. Rather than leave these out, either the 

 beef or the turkey must go. 



Situation. The person who buys plants of Christmas 

 Roses naturally does so with the object of having flowers 

 at Christmas, but he does not always get them. The 

 weather and the site have their say in the matter. If 

 the plants are put in an exposed place, and the Clerk 

 of the Weather should develop a cantankerous attitude, 

 there will be no flowers on the poor Hellebores. They 

 will be too pinched and miserable to think of blooming. 

 The plant does not like being beaten and bullied by 



