SELECTION 125 



it, I hear an intermittent tapping on the panes of 

 a window near. I am not startled, because this 

 identical tapping has been going on for a good many- 

 years, whenever winds are high : but as I look up 

 and see the cause, it seems to bring new sounds to 

 my ears — a spirit raps distinctly on the glass, ^ Begin 

 with us, the 



Climbing Roses.' 



I obey at once the legate of my Queen. I lose no 

 time in stating that the best Climbing Rose with 

 which I am acquainted is that which has just 

 announced itself, Gloire de Dijon, commonly classed 

 with the Tea-scented China Roses, but more closely 

 resembling the Noisette family in its robust growth 

 and hardy constitution. Planted against a wall 

 having a southern or eastern aspect, it grows, when 

 once fairly established, with a wonderful luxuriance. 

 I have just measured a lateral on one of my trees, 

 and of the last year's growth, and found it to be 19 

 feet in length, and the bole of another tree at the 

 base to be nearly 10 inches in circumference. The 

 latter grows on the chancel-wall of my church, and 

 has often had three hundred flowers upon it in full 

 and simultaneous bloom ; nor will the reader desire 

 to arraign me for superstitious practices before a 

 judicial committee when he hears that to this Rose 

 I make daily obeisance, because in passing into my 



