ROSES AND ROSE SHOWS. 173 



which shall be to the garden and to the house what 

 the prize flowers are to the exhibition tables. 



I think that I have already proved my position. But 

 there are twenty-five out of the thirty-two floral groups 

 which I have not yet spoken of, and these the prize- 

 seeker never touches. Their value and beauty as garden 

 plants I need not, however, enlarge on, because they must 

 be well known to all who have any claim to be considered 

 rosarians. P. S. I find in your columns (p. 238) Mr 

 G. Paul says, " All Teas are moderate growers." (!) Let 

 me ask, Are Gloire de Dijon, Climbing Devoniensis, Belle 

 de Bordeaux, Madame Berard, Madame Levet, Triomphe 

 de Guillot fils, and Cheshunt Hybrid moderate growers ? 

 Why, the same writer in his descriptive catalogue describes 

 these and many others as "vigorous," and says of Climbing 

 Devoniensis "of rampant growth," and of Cheshunt Hybrid 

 that " it grows vigorous as Blairii No. 2." But Cheshunt 

 Hybrid, although classed as a Tea Rose, is, in my opinion, 

 neither more nor less than a Hybrid China, giving an 

 occasional bloom in autumn, and ought never to have 

 been allowed to win prizes as a Tea Rose. 



[from " The Gardeners' Chronicle" September igth 1874,^. 368.] 



THE second proposition which I undertook to discuss 

 was, " that Rose plants grown for prize blooms, 

 however fine the plants may be, are not intrinsically so 

 valuable as plants grown otherwise." Let me relate how 

 plants which are expected to produce prize blooms are 

 cultivated. First of all, the best possible Rose soil, a soil 

 which few possess, is selected, and large quantities of 

 stocks are planted on it, after it has been deeply dug and 

 highly manured, in order that a great breadth of highly- 

 fed plants may be had to cut the flowers from. 



Large quantities of water are given throughout the 

 growing season, the flower-buds are freely removed at an 

 early stage of growth, so that each plant is allowed to 



