INTEODUOTIOK 



There Iiave been so many works on the rose 

 produced within the past twenty years, several 

 of them being very valuable and interesting, 

 that a few words may not be out of place, to 

 explain why it was thought desirable to add to 

 the number. The most useful of these compila- 

 tions are English works, but the differences of cli- 

 mate, etc., render necessary, for this country, a 

 modification and change in the directions for 

 culture ; the same reasons will lead us to select a 

 somewhat different hst of varieties for general 

 cultivation from what would be chosen by Eng- 

 lish Eosarians ; besides all this, there is the ex- 

 pectant feeling which impels all authors, that the 

 half has not been told, that in a subject like this, 

 no compilation can ever be deemed perfect or 

 final. New varieties, new classes and types, are 

 being produced ; by experience we learn that 

 modifications of old estabHshed principles are 



