THE ROSE AND THE SHOW 229 



beyond the capacity of the tent. So we bring here 

 our choicest blooms of every kind, that incipient 

 rose-growers may know, or guess, what may be the 

 glories of his garden when he can make up his mind 

 which of our captives to purchase and liberate there. 

 For we can shock the vendor by letting his " dwarf 

 maidens " fly upward and become hamadryads ; his 

 Parisian La France fling out into something of a 

 Marseillaise ; his sadly pensive Frau Karl Druschki 

 regain her youth and exuberance. She, at any rate, 

 as one of the most real of modern roses, will retain 

 in liberty even the graces that appeal to the judges 

 here. The pale pink of Caroline Testout shall keep 

 her in countenance with almost equal grace as they 

 ramble in the pergola or throw kisses to one another 

 from old-fashioned standards. 



We are indebted to the shows for reminding us 

 of the infinite variety of the roses. The very wealth 

 there is to choose from for a long time discourages 

 him who wants his rose-garden to do him justice. 

 Of the making of roses there seems to be no end. 

 Every year there is some new beauty for the public 

 to run after, and we cannot always tell whether the 

 chase is going to be of short duration or will establish 

 a permanent favourite. As with books, so there are 

 many roses that have unjustly perished under the 

 avalanche of less worthy newcomers. We could not, 

 perhaps, take a better instance than the old Cloth of 

 Gold which came to us over sixty years ago. Its 

 big golden bells and the tree's pretty way of wearing 

 them seemed to strike a new and lasting note in 

 rose-culture, but now for all practical purposes the 

 Cloth of Gold is as extinct as the Dodo. Yet it 



