I INTRODUCTION 3 



I write for enthusiasts, for those who make a 

 regular hobby of their Eoses, and think of them as 

 fondly and almost as fully in January as in June. 

 There are not a few such, even among amateurs, in 

 all ranks, and some of them, much handicapped 

 perhaps by soil, situation, or circumstances, still 

 retain their ardour though not meeting with much 

 success. 



The man of business, who rises at daybreak to 

 attend to his Eoses before his day's work in the 

 town ; who is quite prepared if necessary to go out 

 with a good lantern on a November night to seize a 

 favourable condition of soil for planting at once 

 some newly-arrived standards or dwarfs ; and who 

 later in the winter will turn out in the snow after 

 dark to give some little extra protection that may be 

 required for his beds : this is the sort of man for 

 me, and for the Eose as well. 



I remember a certain occasion when a small 

 shooting party met for partridge-driving on a rather 

 dismal bleak day in January. Two of the " guns," 

 who lived some distance apart and did not meet 

 very often, were continually drawing together and 

 chattering away with the greatest enthusiasm ; 

 cutting little bits out of the hedge and comparing 

 notes with so much interest that, though both very 

 fond of the sport, on more than one occasion the 

 partridges flew by unheeded whilst they had strayed 

 from their places. Said the host later on to one of 

 his friends, " What on earth do you think A and B, 

 who are generally so keen, had got of such im- 

 portance to talk about together ? It was all about 

 Eoses ! " 



For some months, in the early part of 1894, I 



B 2 



