THINGS THAT MATTER 



59 



practical, but our intelligence tells us that the " practical " is 

 not, in itself, everything that there are other phases of knowledge 

 which supplement it, which are capable of throwing light upon 

 our ordinary practical methods, and are as " lamps unto our feet." 

 The really progressive man, clear of vision and broad in mind, 

 does not despise theoretic or academic knowledge he even values 

 the rose-lore of the enthusiast for he sees it contains within itself 

 much that is helpful and a very great deal that is inspiring. So, 

 being a wise man, he gathers in all the general and specialised 

 knowledge that comes within his reach, treasures it all up in the 

 recesses of his mind, and rarely finds that he has laid by anything 

 which at some time or other does not prove useful. 



What we have written so far in this chapter we felt constrained 

 to write, for we are all in favour of the widest and fullest knowledge 

 of our subject ; for the simplest and the most erudite, the most 

 obvious and the most obscure facts have their values, and go to 

 swell what we call "knowledge." 



PRACTICAL MATTERS 



Hitherto we have gone but little beyond the usual routine of 

 cultivation and have scarcely touched upon those more subtle 

 but powerful factors which make so much for success. With 

 the information already given, any intelligent worker can successfully 

 grow roses on a commercial scale, but the man of greater ambition, 

 who wishes to excel, would not stop short at the various rules laid 

 down. To such a man rose growing in its most practical form 

 is not that soulless undertaking which can be summed up in the 

 phrase " produce and sell " ; he works for a greater ideal, and 

 while to the casual observer he may sometimes seemingly sub- 

 ordinate the strictly commercial to intellectual considerations, it is 

 " seeming " only and not " actual," for in the end he would have 

 builded better than onlookers expected and commercial success 

 would come to him as the direct result of his high aims. Do you 

 appreciate that ? 



Among other things he would study for himself the best 

 conditions under which his roses would flourish, conditions of soil, 

 of position, of manures ; he would learn the essential differences 



