214 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE chap. 



A variety may be faulty as a plant, having an 

 unhealthy constitution, weakness of growth, deficiency 

 of foliage, a special tendency to mildew or orange 

 fungus, or a lack of freedom of bloom, or of good 

 qualities in the autumn. And if the plant is all that 

 can be desired, there may be serious demerits in the 

 flowers as a rule, however good an occasional specimen 

 may be. Among such faults may be — a liability to be 

 stained, gummed or rotted by rain, or to " burn," that 

 is, turn brown, in hot weather, or to come badly shaped, 

 malformed, quartered or divided, or to have some de- 

 ficiency in stoutness and smoothness of petal, fulness 

 of centre, accuracy of form, or brightness of colour. 



The Teas have a special fault in that some of them 

 will not bring blooms to full perfection when grown as 

 dwarf plants, and they are also peculiarly liable to be 

 injured by rain; but, on the other hand, they are some- 

 what less injured by mildew and completely free from 

 orange fungus. Besides these general faults, many Roses 

 have private habits, either good or bad (generally bad !) 

 of their own. It is most desirable that these should be 

 known, but it should be added that situation, climate, 

 soil, and culture have much effect upon the manners 

 and customs, sometimes to a very striking extent. 



It is quite common to hear one amateur say of a 

 certain variety that it is useless with him — that it will 

 not grow, or the blooms come to no good — while another 

 answers that he finds it all he could wish in growth 

 and flower. After a fair trial, it is far better to give 

 up a Rose that does not answer : there are plenty of 

 different sorts and many new ones each year, and I 

 should strongly advise a vigorous weeding out every 

 autumn of all those which have been thoroughly tried 

 and found wanting. 



Usually it takes two or three years' trial at least of a 



