ROSE GARDENS 103 



get from books, magazines, experience, and visits to other 

 rose gardens. 



And, finally, we can all cherish in our hearts the ideal rose 

 garden. The most perfect garden I have seen is that of Mr. Aaron 

 Ward at Roslyn, L. I. There are about five hundred varieties in 

 it, but it is not a mere collection of varieties. We can never have 

 the best effects by growing only one bush of a kind. It is impossi- 

 ble to get a beautiful photograph of a rosery because of its countless 

 stakes and labels. Mr. Ward has no stakes or labels, but it is 

 easy to find the name of any variety, for a little beyond each bed 

 is a chart of the bed, typewritten, under glass and raised to a 

 convenient height. The whole device is easily removed, so that 

 guests may roam about the garden without anything of a prosaic 

 nature to drag one down to the earth. The whole atmosphere of 

 the garden is one of romance and beauty. The roses are sur- 

 rounded by other hardy flowers, and the garden is 

 secluded. 



I do not deny that the rosery gives a bigger show during June 

 and July, and I am not urging every one to give up growing roses 

 for quality blooms. England can teach us everything about qual- 

 ity roses, just as we can teach her everything about greenhouse 

 roses. Indeed, Mr. Barren complains that Americans are afraid 

 to prune their roses enough to get the best individual flowers. 

 The only point I am urging is that we ought to give this new 

 scheme of rose culture a trial because we need gardens that are 

 full of poetry, romance, inspiration. (See plate 45.) And we can- 

 not have such gardens without the best roses grown in the 

 noblest ways. 



If the student desires more practical help than this chapter 

 can give let him read Mr. Robinson's chapter on roses in the 



