ROSES FOR EXHIBITION 211 



ever varied by colour, size, or foliage, knowing how 

 much I should lose for lack of contrast and 

 diversity. 



With reference to colour, I would explain that I 

 mean by endurance a colour which will best bear the 

 journey to the exhibition, and the heat of the exhibi- 

 tion hall. I have kept this important consideration 

 in mind in the selection which follows of Show- 

 Roses. 



After reading rule 3, the novice may ask, How am 

 I to know the most perfect phase and the fullest 

 development of a Rose ? My answer to this is. Go to 

 one of our principal Rose-Shows, or to one of our 

 most extensive Rose-nurseries at the end of June, or 

 early in July, so that you may see the flower in its 

 glory. The sooner that the young Rosarian knows 

 what a Rose may be, and therefore what it ought to 

 be, the better. Many a man's handwriting has been 

 cramped and spoiled by copying bad copies and 

 using bad pens ; and many a man, who might have 

 been a successful florist, has failed, because he has 

 not seen flowers in perfection, nor the cultural art in 

 its perfection, until it was too late. I have known 

 several instances in which men, brought up, as it 

 were, among small Roses, have maintained their 

 superiority to large ones — I mean to larger speci- 

 mens of the same varieties. 



