2IO A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



Leaving him at it, let us be content to know that a 

 Show-Rose should possess — 



1. Beauty of form — petals abundant and of good 

 substance, regularly and gracefully disposed within a 

 circular symmetrical outline. 



2. Beauty of colour — brilliancy, purity, endurance. 

 And 



3. That the Rose, having both these qualities, must 

 be exhibited in the most perfect phase of its beauty, 

 and in the fullest development to which skill and 

 care can bring it. ^ 



Of course I do not presume, reverting to the shape 

 of a Show- Rose, to propose stereotyped definitions or 

 uniform models. On the contrary, I am well aware 

 that whether the surface of a Rose be globular, 

 cupped, or expanded, and whether its petals be 

 convex or concave, a perfect gracefulness of form is 

 attainable.2 My own idea is the globular — the abundant 

 petals regularly overlapping each other ; but I should 

 never desire to show all my Roses of this form, how- 



' Engraved illustrations of the five principal types of Exhibition 

 Roses — I, flat, like Souvenir de Malmaison ; 2, globular, high centre, 

 like Alfred Colomh ; 3, globular, like Francois Michelon ; 4, cupped, 

 like Baroness Rothschild ; 5, imbricated, like A. K» Williams^ are 

 given in the excellent catalogue published by the Committee of the 

 National Rose Society, and to be obtained (price 6d.) from the 

 Secretaries. 



^ I am glad to see that the National Rose Society, of which I have 

 the honour to be President, has adopted almost verbatim my definition 

 of a perfect Rose, 



