STANDARD ROSES. 181 



goods into the market?" His reply probably would be, 

 " Why does the public persist in purchasing them ? " and 

 add that it is not his business to dictate to his customers 

 what they shall buy, but to be prepared to supply what 

 they demand. The remedy on the part of the purchaser 

 would be to choose his sorts from trees seen growing 

 in nurseries or gardens, and in doing so inquire (if the fact 

 is not apparent on the surface by the age of the tree or 

 otherwise) whether the sort has a good constitution and 

 habit as well as a handsome flower. 



There is one special advantage in growing Roses as 

 standards which was suggested to me by an old friend, a 

 distinguished horticulturist, when discussing the subject 

 the other day, and I will put it in his words " I agree with 

 all you say, and will add one reason more : in growing 

 Roses as standards the flowers are brought near to our 

 eyes and noses, and those who, like you and I, are growing 

 old have not to bend the back or go on all fours to see and 

 smell them." 



ON THE GROUPING OF THE GARDEN VARIETIES 



IF all the garden varieties of Roses could be brought 

 under view at one and the same time, they would be 

 found to compose a very heterogeneous mass. The Rose 

 has been treated as a domesticated plant for so long a 

 period that the varieties are almost innumerable and are 

 also remarkable for the extent to which they differ in 

 habit, foliage, and flowers. So widely have our modern 

 garden varieties departed from what may fairly be assumed 

 to be Nature's Roses, that it is difficult, if not impos- 

 sible in some instances, to conjecture from what species 



* Read at the "National Rose Conference" of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society at Chiswijck, July 2nd, 1889. 



