108 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



have the shoots and flowers in their fullest vigour, with 

 the additional charm of watching a variety which is new 

 to you spring into leaf and bud and bloom from the tiny 

 bud which you brought home in your pocket. 



What a pleasure, too, to help a beginner, or one who 

 has lost his plants, by sending a large parcel of buds 

 in early August when they are plentiful and you can 

 spare a good quantity of them. But still, the choosing 

 and cutting, preparation and packing of them takes 

 some time, and I should advise the making of a rule 

 that whoever asks for buds by post should send labels 

 with the names required, as this will save some trouble 

 at least. From budding Roses, the amateur will very 

 likely be led on to budding his own Apples on Paradise, 

 and his own Plums and other fruit-trees, and his 

 interest in all these features of the garden will be 

 much increased when his own hands have thus 

 propagated his fruits and his flowers. 



I would strongly advise the enthusiastic amateur, if 

 he lives quite in the country and has plenty of room, 

 to get and raise his own stocks. Not only because it 

 will greatly add to the interest of the matter and save 

 expense, but also because the stocks themselves, es- 

 pecially standards, will be stronger and better. A 

 sufficient number can be raised every year by one man 

 to keep up a collection of Roses large enough to enable 

 him to show in the highest amateur classes. As 

 standards undoubtedly produce as a rule the finest Tea 

 Roses, and there are probably few amateurs who 

 personally get their own from the hedges, I will 

 endeavour to describe my mode of procedure. 



First, as to outfit : — I never had any special suit, 

 but an old one each year is condemned to the work, 

 and verily it is never likely to be used for anything' 



