Description of Habit, Size, &c. 227 



Dwarf "is applied where any variety is of small or dwarf growth. 



To know the rate of growth of a plant is of the highest importance in the selection 

 of varieties. How otherwise can they be properly adapted for particular purposes ? 

 How else arranged correctly in Rose clumps, or in the formation of a Rosarium ? One 

 cannot always judge correctly of the actual rate of growth by a young plant ; its vigour 

 may be extraordinary, when the variety is in reality only a moderate grower. Hence 

 it frequently happens that we find Roses in clumps and elsewhere badly placed ; the 

 guiding line when planting having been the rate of growth of the young plants ; and 

 thus a moderate grower fills a position suited only for a robust or vigorous one, and 

 vice versa. 



It is the frequent meeting with cases such as these that has induced me to attach 

 the rate of growth to the varieties, as far as it was practicable to do so. As this 

 feature in description will be new to those who have not seen the Descriptive 

 Catalogues of the Collection here, it may be well to give a table of the average 

 height of the varieties of the different groups intended to be expressed by each term. 

 The terms vigorous, robust, moderate, and dwarf, are applied to certain kinds, viewed 

 in comparison with others of the same group ; thus, a growth of two to three feet would 

 entitle a Provence Rose to the appellation of vigorous, whereas a growth of six to eight 

 feet would be required to justify the application of the same term to the Hybrid 

 Chinese ; because the latter are, as a whole, more vigorous than the Provence Roses. 



The following Table is drawn up in reference to their growth in these Nurseries, 

 the soil of which is a strong alluvial loam. However they may differ in extent oj 

 growth in other soils, I imagine most groups will remain comparatively the same. 



