102 



A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



The novice must not expect that his Roses will 

 always maintain their integrity even in the kindliest 

 of soils, and with a most anxious and clever cultiva- 

 tion. Sooner or later they will deteriorate, and 

 must be replaced by a younger and stronger 

 growth from the nurseries or the budding-ground. 



Nay, the time must come, when the soil itself 

 will give manifest intimations that in horticulture 

 as in agriculture it is expedient to change our 

 crops ; and he who would maintain his supremacy 

 as a Rosarian must seek 'fields fresh and pastures 

 new/ 



I exhausted three Rose-gardens of considerable 

 extent, and should have joyfully continued the 

 process of exhaustion, had I not reached my 

 boundaries, satisfied my ambition as an exhibitor, 

 and become more and more inclined to distribute 

 my admirations among the manifold beauties of 

 the garden, rather than to concentrate all my devo- 

 tions upon the Rose. Of course, she was to remain 

 for ever my Sovereign Lady, the Queen. 



We have found our situation, we have prepared 

 our soil ; we will speak now of the arrangement 

 of the Rosarium, and then of the Rose itself. 



