CHAPTER XV 



ROSES AS CUT FLOWERS 



There is scarcely any Rose that we can wish to have 

 in our gardens that is not also delightful in the cut 

 state. A china bowl filled with well-grown Hybrid 

 Perpetuals, grand of colour and sweetly scented, is 

 a room decoration that can hardly be beaten both 

 for beauty and for the pleasure it gives, whether in 

 a sitting-room or on the breakfast table. The only 

 weak point about cut Roses is that their life is short. 

 The day they are cut they are at their best, the next 

 day they will do, but the third day they lose colour, 

 scent, and texture. Still it is so delightful to any 

 one who lives a fairly simple life in the country to 

 go out and cut a bunch of Roses, that the need for 

 their often renewal is only an impulse towards the 

 fulfilment of a household duty of that pleasant class 

 that is all delight and no drudgery. 



Tea Roses last quite a day longer than Hybrid 

 Perpetuals, but they need more careful arrangement, 

 for many of them have rather weak stalks and hang 

 their heads. Still these "'may be avoided and only 

 strong-stalked ones used. In most cases they are 

 best by themselves, without the addition of any other 

 flowers. In my own practice the only notable ex- 

 ception I make to this general rule is with the 



