150 THOUGHTS ON ROSES. 



rich to a less genial soil, and this notwithstanding mulching 

 and watering them. 



Laborious as is the work of a nursery or garden on 

 a moist clayey soil, our sympathies this year must be 

 reserved for those who have a lighter and more "work- 

 able" staple. On such the Roses have been simply 

 miserable. Even on strong soils, fine as have been the 

 growth and flowers, the latter have been unusually 

 evanescent, opening in the morning and fading before 

 night. One might water again and again, but watering 

 at the root does not produce much moisture in the air, 

 one necessary condition of a favourable Rose season. 



I have often ventured to point out the superior fresh- 

 ness and beauty of the early Pot Roses as exhibited in 

 April and May, and never was this more apparent than 

 in the present year. In my judgment the Rose will 

 not be fairly and fully represented at our flower shows 

 till we have a grand show of Pot Roses in April or May, 

 at which Roses in pots shall figure not by dozens but 

 by hundreds or thousands. Time was when stove and 

 greenhouse plants were partly if not chiefly represented 

 by cut flowers, but when the plants came to be shown 

 in increased beauty and greater quantities, the cut flowers 

 excited but little interest. So will it be with Roses. 

 Can any of our readers recal the cut Roses at our Rose 

 shows this year? In many instances they lay flagging 

 and shrivelling in the heat, even before the public were 

 admitted, and long before the fashionable hours of four 

 and five o'clock arrived a great number were things of 

 the past. Could anyone have gathered from them a 

 correct idea of the varied beauty of the Queen of Flowers, 

 or have noted varieties for their gardens with any cer- 

 tainty that they were choosing the best ? If not, where 

 is the practical value of our Rose shows as at present 

 arranged and conducted ? For a sultry day at the end 

 of June or beginning of July by no means an un- 

 common occurrence would invariably produce similar 



