I30 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



size the egg of a turkey, or rather, in my eyes, 

 of a roc. 



Alas ! this tree perished years ago. Its fate was 

 the common lot of its race — to be cut down by cruel 

 frosts. And yet I would advise amateurs to do as 

 I do, persevere in growing it. One year's harvest 

 will be recompense enough for the ploughing and 

 sowing of a decade. If other Roses boast of their 

 fecundity, this may answer, as the queen of beasts 

 to the fox, ^ My children are few, but they are lions^ 

 Try it on a south wall ; try it on verandah and 

 arcade (I have seen it flowering freely on the latter) ; 

 try it budded on the Celine Hybrid Bourbon, which 

 is also most congenial for Climbing Devoniensis ; 

 try it on the Banksian and Manetti stocks ; try it 

 on its own roots, protecting it during the winter 

 months with some good thick surface-dressing. I 

 do not recommend matting, or other material, which 

 keeps light and air from the plant. A sickly un- 

 natural growth is often caused thereby, which renders 

 the plant more powerless than ever to resist its 

 enemies — insects and vernal frost. 



Rose No. 2 is Mar^chal Niel. Since the time 

 when, a baby in floriculture, I first began to *take 

 notice' of Roses, more than thirty years ago, three 

 new stars of special brightness have glittered in our 

 firmament — Gloire de Dijon, Charles Lefebvre, and 



