Her Majesty the Rose 



FIKST PAPER 



WHILE the Lily is a princess of 

 the blood royal, and the Carna- 

 tion is fully entitled to the dis- 

 tinction it enjoys as being a "divine 

 flower," neither can be considered as being 

 a rival of the Eose. She is, as she always 

 has been, and always will be, the qneen 

 of flowers, whose right to the throne every 

 one concedes. We inay,wa,ver somewhat in 

 our allegiance, when away from court and 



under the influence of beauty, which, were 

 it not for the Rose, would dominate us as 

 completely as the charm of that flower 

 does, but no sooner do we come again 

 within the spell of the queen regent than 

 our loyalty revives, and we wonder how 

 we could, for a moment, have thought that 

 anything else in the floral world could 

 equal it. In beauty of form and color and 

 fragrance it has all the qualities which 

 go to make it the favorite flower of all 

 lands and all ages. 



No garden can be considered as living 

 up to its privileges if it does not contain 

 a collection of Roses. If there is room 

 for but one shrub there, the place should 



be given to a hardy variety of the June 

 flowering class. But the lover of beautiful 

 flowers will not be satisfied with one va- 

 riety. The pleasure it affords will only 

 intensify the desire for other sorts, afford- 

 ing a wider range of color and form, and 

 it is safe to predict that the planting of 

 one variety is the beginning of a collection 

 which will grow to be as large as circum- 

 stances and conditions will admit of. 

 ■ Rose growing is something we never tire 

 of, and we never reach the stage when we 

 are ready to say that we ha,ve enough, and 

 our collection is complete. So long as new 

 varieties are to be had, so long will we go 

 on adding to the list, unless our garden has 

 room for no more, discarding as we do so 

 those whose merits are superseded by the 

 merits of the newer candidates for the 

 favor of the Rose enthusiast. 



There are many members of the great 

 Eose family. Classes is perhaps the bet- 

 ter term to use, for these divisions and 

 sub-divisions really constitute classes quite 

 distinct in themselves. Years ago the or- 

 dinary garden contained only the June or 

 summer flowering class. This was grown 

 because its hardiness made it possible for 

 every one to enjoy it with but little trouble. 

 Simply plant it, and it would take care of 

 itself after that. It comprised such va- 

 rieties as the Moss, exquisitely beautiful 

 in bud; the good old Damask, unrivaled 

 by any modern Rose in fragrance- the 

 great, loose-petaled crimson sorts, whose 

 flowers contested claims for size and color 

 with the Peony, and the small white and 

 yellow varieties known as Scotch Roses, 

 with semi-double flowers, small foliage, 

 and low, bushy habit of growth. The 

 Sweetbrier also found a place in nearly 

 all gardens, because of old associations 

 rather than beauty. Nowadays, it is al- 

 most impossible to find any of these, with 

 the single exception of the Mosses, on sale 

 by Rose growers. ISTewer sorts have sup- 

 planted them. But those who loved the 

 old Damask Rose for its sweetness can not 



