12 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



.establishments of Messrs. B. R. Cant and Frank Cant> 

 who devote themselves solely to Roses ; in Hertfordshire, 

 Messrs. Paul and Son of Cheshunt (Messrs. Wm. Paul 

 and Son of Waltham not now exhibiting cut blooms 

 in competition); and in Yorkshire, Messrs. Harkness 

 and Sons of Bedale. No other nurserymen in the last 

 'twelve years have won either of the N.R.S. champion 

 trophies, but a foremost place must be admitted to Mr. 

 Prince in Oxfordshire, whose specialty of Teas on the 

 seedling briar has often won him the premier prize in 

 that section, and to Messrs. A. Dickson and Son of 

 Newtownards in Ireland, who show very strongly con- 

 sidering their distance and the difficulty of transit, 

 and who have won the gold medal for new Roses 

 of their own raising much oftener than any other 

 British firm. 



There are many others of high standing, a large 

 proportion of whom probably sell as good plants as 

 those I have mentioned. And if they have not come 

 to the actual front yet as exhibitors, it may be that 

 distance or climate, or a disinclination to incur the 

 whole expense and trouble of competing in the first 

 rank, have prevented their names being chronicled 

 hitherto as the winners of the premier prizes. 



Among amateurs, notable exhibitors have dropped 

 out of the ranks in the last decade in Messrs. W. J. 

 Grant, T. B. Hall, and E. R. Whitwell, while the senior 

 knight of all, Mr. R. N. G. Baker, only exhibits occasion- 

 ally ; but we have still a large and increasing army of 

 Rose-lovers, who like to tilt in honour of the queen at 

 the Rose tournaments, and of these the best known are 

 Mr. E. B. Lindsell of Hitchin, and Rev. J. H. Pember- 

 ton of Essex, for H.P.s, and Mr. A. H. Gray of Bath, 

 and Rev. F. R. Burnside of Herefordshire, for Teas, 



