212 



THE BOOK OF THE HOSE 



CHAP. 



extremely variable in their tints, and others come much 

 fuller in colour when grown strongly. 



It is not every one who is, without studying the 

 matter, well conversant with the different tints expressed 

 in the terms frequently used. Among these may be 

 found — ivory, cream, lemon, chrome, straw, canary, 

 sulphur, salmon, nankeen, saffron, apricot, fawn, buff, 

 copper, bronze, blush, flesh, peach, rose, cerise, carmine, 

 coral, cherry, currant, madder, vermilion, scarlet, lake, 

 lilac, plum, violet, magenta, claret, maroon, and amaranth. 

 It requires not only a good eye for colour, but also a 

 certain amount of training, for an ordinary man to dis- 

 tinguish accurately between these shades. I confess 

 that some of them beat me, and that even the first two 

 on the list, ivory and cream, as seen in Roses, would 

 present very slight distinctions to my eyes. 



A good many of the Tea Roses, especially the light 

 yellows, come practically, if not pure, white, when 

 exposed to strong and continued sun ; and as these 

 are generally credited as to colour with the first 

 descriptions of the raisers as seen under glass, there is 

 sometimes a little disappointment with the tints as 

 seen out of doors. Thus Devoniensis, Edith Gifford, 

 and Innocente Pirola used to be described without an}^ 

 mention of the word £ white,' which must seem very 

 strange to those Avho know the Roses. 



Such good old colour-words as white, yellow, pink, 

 red, scarlet, and crimson are my strongholds, and in the 

 following catalogue I shall mostly leave the descriptions 

 of colour to be found in the trade-lists, the best of 

 which are carefully compiled from a long and wide- 

 spread knowledge of the various sorts, and a study and 

 comparison of the different shades. My endeavour 

 will be to supplement these descriptions with other 



