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INTRODUCTION 



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For elegance in trailing blossoming beauty some of 

 the best and most vigorous of the climbing Roses would 

 indeed hold a high place among decorative plants ; but 

 for masses of grand colour as viewed from a distance, no 

 Rose effect can equal that of the rhododendrons ; and for 

 unwearied continuance many ordinary bedding plants 

 make a richer and more permanent display. No ; the 

 value of the Rose is in the glory of its individual flowers ; 

 and in these pages, at least, the idea is not the Rose 

 for the garden, but the garden for the Rose. 



I write for enthusiasts, for those who make a regular 

 hobby of their Roses, 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 Roses 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 

 Rose 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 



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