2 Hoses for Amateurs. 



folk-lore knowledge we do not possess. Anyone desirous of 

 pursuing these subjects may have his wishes fully gratified so 

 far as the former is concerned by reading " Ros Rosarum," 

 by F. V. B., and as regards the latter, " Plant-Lore," 

 by Folkard, in both of which they are exhaustively treated. 

 What we have to do with more particularly here is the 

 history of the Rose in our own days, and the causes which 

 have contributed to its cultivation in these islands to an 

 extent which has never been known before. When we 

 recollect the position the Rose used to occupy in gardens, 

 we are confronted with the remembrance of a large number 

 of summer Roses in our gardens that were a blaze of beauty 

 in June when Provence, Gallica, Moss, and other Roses of a 

 similar character were those cultivated; when the Tea and 

 Noisette were comparatively unknown ; and when, if any 

 Roses were to be had later on, the China or old Monthly 

 Rose was the source of supply. Later on, the Hybrid Per- 

 petuals and Teas came to be known, and Standards were 

 greatly in favour, and every year the Rose-man appeared 

 with his bundle of stocks, to obtain which he had no doubt 

 committed a considerable amount of trespass. 



An important factor in the present great popularity of the 

 Rose was the establishment of the National Rose Society in 

 1876. At that time Rose exhibitions (which, after all, do 

 most for the extension of the cultivation of tho flower) were 

 at a low ebb. Many shows were of two days' duration, and 

 the public had on the second day but a poor idea of what the 

 Rose really is ; while the provincial shows were few, and 

 small in extent. Thursday, yth December, 1876 (when, in a 

 crowded room, in the midst of weather of a most depressing 

 character, the founding of the National Rose Society was 

 determined on), must ever be a memorable day in the history 

 of the Rose. The main object of this Society was to 

 encourage the cultivation of the flower, to promote national 

 exhibitions of it in London and the provinces, and to dis- 



