CHAPTER X 



THE ROSE AS A CLIMBER 



Its Beauty and Uses — The Species and Old Roses — The Modern 

 Roses — Single Roses — Soil — Pests — Pruning — Under Glass. 



The Queen of Flowers, as we admiringly and affec- 

 tionately term the Rose, is one of the finest of all plants 

 used as climbers, and it is pleasant to see how much its 

 cultivation in this free and natural form is extending 

 everywhere. We all recognise how much of the beauty 

 of our woods and hedges in June is due to the wild 

 Roses which grow among them, and we still more 

 appreciate the many Roses which the garden yields with 

 such charming forms and so much beauty of habit and 

 growth. We see how these climbing Roses can change 

 the aspect of even the stiffest and ugliest wall, and how 

 much the beauty of a noble building or a stately terrace 

 is heightened by the judicious use of the best of our 

 Roses of climbing habit. Even a lowly cottage with an 

 old climbing Rose rambling over its porch or up the 

 roof is ennobled by the flower. 



So, also, we can all realise how much of the loveliness 

 of the garden in summer is yielded by the Roses which 

 span the paths on arches, shade its arbours, or screen 

 the bare and hard wall with fresh foliage and gracious 

 flowers, exhaling the fragrance which is one of the chief 

 charms of this favourite of the past and the present. On 

 the pergola, also, it is seen to advantage ; and the 

 verandah is made more attractive by its sweet flowers, 

 so pleasing alike to the senses of vision and smell. 



In recent years a new use has been found for the 



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