158 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



collection, to appropriate unto himself a good pro- 

 portion of those Roses from the first division, which, 

 being of a more robust growth than many of the 

 show varieties, are more likely to satisfy and to 

 enlarge his ambition. I hardly think that I should 

 have been a Rosarian had not the wise nurseryman 

 who supplied the first Roses which I remember, sent 

 strong and free-blooming sorts ; and I have known 

 many a young florist to be discouraged by w^eakly 

 specimens, supplied by inferior or short-sighted pur- 

 veyors, and doomed to destruction, as the gladiators, 

 who said to the emperor, ' Morituri te salutanV, 

 Wherefore, writing with the hope that I may promote 

 in others that love of the Rose, from which I have 

 derived so much happiness, I exhort novice and 

 nurseryman alike, as ever they would build a goodly 

 edifice, to lay a deep and sure foundation. Let the 

 one select, and the other send, strong specimens of 

 such roses, e.g,^ Ulrich Brunner and Mrs. John Laing, 

 as never disappoint us. Such a course will induce 

 further investments ; and as increase of appetite doth 

 grow with that it feeds on (I began with 12 and went 

 on to 5000!), the amateur will have to decide for 

 himself as to the future selection of his Roses. 

 Should he prefer the perfection of individual Roses 

 to the general eff"ect of his Rosary — should he find 

 more pleasure in a single bloom, teres atque rotunday 



