134 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



curious proof. Be it known, then, and apropos of 

 mates, that the lady whom, on an interesting occa- 

 sion, I endowed with all my worldly goods, does 

 not avail herself of my matrimonial munificence 

 with regard to my show Roses, but contents herself 

 during the exhibition season with the produce of 

 certain trees exclusively appropriated to her. One 

 morning toward the end of May, I listened with 

 amused incredulity to her announcement that she 

 * had just cut a beautiful bloom of the Mar^chal'; 

 and being perfectly sure that there was no tree of 

 that variety in her collection, and no expanded 

 flower on my own, I ventured to ask, with affec- 

 tionate sarcasm, which of her plants had distinguished 

 itself for life by this grand supernatural victory ? 

 The prompt answer was — * Gloire de Dijon : go to 

 my room and look!' I went, expecting to see 

 some abnormal specimen of the flower, and I found 

 in all its loveliness Marechal Niel ! Thence to the 

 branch from which it came, and then the mystery 

 was explained. I had mentioned to my gardener, 

 in the preceding summer, some remarks which I had 

 read from Mr. Rivers, the younger, recommending 

 the Gloire as a stock for the Marechal. He had 

 tried the recipe, as I now advise my readers to try 

 it, and had first perplexed and then pleased me with 

 the prompt success of his enterprise. 



