Cultivation. 9 



expression a Rose-garden, for nothing has been said about 

 size it may contain fifty, or a hundred, or hundreds of 

 Roses; but the expression implies this, that the Rose 

 ought to have, and if successfully treated must have, a 

 place by itself, for unless it has, it can never be properly 

 cultivated. 



There is one place, and one only, in which the Rose will 

 not grow satisfactorily, if at all, and that is in the vicinity 

 of a smoky town. Ah ! what miserable failures one has seen 

 when this has been attempted ; and it shows, indeed, how 

 universal is the love of the Rose that such attempts should 

 even be made. The blacks settle down on the foliage, com- 

 pletely choke the pores of the leaves, and miserable pining 

 away and death are the results. If, indeed, the manufac- 

 tures are not of a very deleterious character, and the garden 

 is situated out of the way of the prevailing winds, some 

 amount of success may be obtained ; but the Rose, although 

 about as gross a feeder as we have in our gardens, is an 

 intense lover of pure air, and a heavily smoke-laden atmos- 

 phere is death to it. With this exception, however, we 

 believe the Rose will grow anywhere of course, in some 

 districts better than others. Some persons might imagine 

 that Cornwall, with its mild winters, would be just the place 

 for it ; but one of our very best horticulturists says he does 

 not think it would be possible to grow an exhibition Rose in 

 that very favoured locality the plants all run to leaf, and the 

 blossoms are small and inferior. On the other hand, one 

 would say that a cliff, overhanging the sea, and exposed to 

 the force of our terrific south-west winds, would be ruinous 

 to the Rose ; yet there are some who not only grow them 

 there, but take first prizes at the National Rose Society's 

 and other shows with flowers gathered from a garden so 

 situated. Generally speaking such positions are not those 

 of choice, but of sheer necessity ; it is a case of there or 

 nowhere. 



