viii Preface to the First Edition. 



other favourites had figured liberally in the Floricultural periodicals of 

 the day, this had remained almost unnoticed, no series of Coloured 

 Drawings having appeared later than 1820, since which period the ROSE 

 had undergone a thorough change. Into the causes of this it is needless 

 to inquire. Suffice it to say that the neglect could not have originated 

 in an indifference to the merits or a supposed unpopularity of the flower. 

 We can scarcely enter any garden, however humble, which does not 

 contain a Rose-tree ; and many of the noted establishments in England 

 have, like in Rome of old, places set apart expressly for their cultivation. 

 And it is not a slavish obedience to fashion that has led to this. 

 Although cherished alike by peer and peasant, the popularity of the 

 ROSE rests on a surer foundation its intrinsic merit. What other 

 genus of plants embraces so great a variety of character, or gives forth 

 such a number of delicious blossoms for so long a period ? Moreover, 

 it is easy of culture ; suited to a great variety of soils ; lives and blooms 

 even when neglected ; yet yields an abundant return for whatever labour 

 may be bestowed upon it. 



The " ROSE GARDEN " is arranged in Two Divisions. The First 

 includes Chapters on the History of the Rose, the Formation of the 

 Rosarium, and the various practices of Cultivation. The Chapters on 

 Hybridising and Raising Seedlings are, it is believed, altogether new, 

 and likely to prove interesting and useful at this particular era in Rose- 

 culture. The Second Division embraces a natural arrangement of all 

 the approved Roses known, with full descriptions of their colours, sizes, 

 forms, degrees of fulness, habit, rates of growth, and purposes for which 

 best suited. The descriptions are chiefly the result of close personal 

 observation, having been taken from living specimens at a great cost of 

 time and labour; which will be granted readily when it is stated that 

 above 2000 varieties are described. Nevertheless, it was judged desir- 

 able to pursue this course in order to attain to that accuracy in the 

 descriptive part of the work which should render it a safe and efficient 

 guide in selecting varieties. 



The execution of the Coloured Drawings has been entrusted to 

 eminent artists, whose design has been not to fabricate a pleasing 

 flower but to produce exact representations of Nature. This feature of 

 the work presents the cultivator with Roses at all seasons ; alike when 



