1 2 IN TROD UCTION. 



comparatively neglected, if not entirely lost, 

 jostled and thrust aside by the increasing 

 horde of newer aspirants. 



How many a country home owes its out- 

 ward charm not only to its coronal of lilacs, 

 honeysuckles, and snow-balls, its pomp of 

 Paeonias, roses of Sharon and trumpet-vine, 

 but to its climbing roses most of all the 

 blush-colored Baltimore Belle and rose-red 

 Queen of the Prairies which festoon its pillars 

 and entwine its arbors. Can any new variety 

 exhale a sweeter perfume than the roses of 

 our childhood the old white Damask, pink 

 Cabbage, and common Moss whose scented 

 petals perchance remain fragrant still in the 

 haunting essence of the rose-jar? Even the 

 pink clusters of the rambling Michigan rose, 

 and the spicy foliage of the Sweetbriar bring 

 up an old garden with its pageant of daffo- 

 dils, sweet Williams, snow-pinks, and Ma- 

 donna lilies ; its troops of columbines, lark- 

 spurs, bearded Irids, and bachelor-buttons; 

 its blaze of hollyhocks, tiger-lilies, dahlias, 

 and sunflowers. The first June rose ! emblem 

 of summer, symbol of sweetness, hue of 

 beauty with each succeeding year it blos- 

 soms fresh and beautiful as when Sappho 

 crowned it with praise, and the nightingale 

 wooed it in the gardens of Naishapur. 



