XI 



EXHIBITING 



185 



Beauty and fragrance are the charms of the Rose. It 

 may be said beauty is a matter of taste, but, as tastes 

 differ, for the purposes of competition ideals must be 

 agreed upon and rules laid down. In this matter I think 

 the show system of the National Rose Society has laid 

 down correct canons of beauty. Unhappily, fragrance 

 cannot be accounted for in competition at Rose shows. 

 It is plain that among such a number it could not be 

 tested, and that rules for estimating the amount and 

 quality of fragrance in each bloom could not be satis- 

 factorily framed. Individual taste will also differ much 

 in the appreciation of it, the scent of Marechal 

 Niel, for instance, so highly estimated by some, being 

 not a pleasant one to my senses. 



In fact, the judging of fragrance would have to be a 

 matter for experts, properly trained, as tea-tasters are, 

 for the part. Such persons, who have made the matter 

 a special study, tell us that there is no scent of tea 

 among what we call Tea Roses, but that some of them, 

 like Marechal Niel and Madame Bravy, have a fruity 

 odour resembling the raspberry, that Safrano has the 

 odour of pinks, the Macartney Rose of apricots, and the 

 Dog-Rose of mignonette. They even say that some 

 Roses have a disgusting scent, the flowers of certain 

 varieties of the Sweet Briar (of all Roses !) developing a 

 mixed odour of coriander and a certain horrid parasite 

 which shall be nameless ! I gather these and a few 

 other items as to Rose scent from a pamphlet called 

 PJioclologia, just issued by Mr. J. Ch. Sawer, F.L.S., 

 of Brighton, which will be found useful to those 

 interested in the scent of Roses, especially from a 

 commercial point of view. 



So it is a charge against shows that scentless Roses 

 are encouraged, and fragrance, a chief part of the dowry 



