2i8 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



timation when it is time to get in my Briers — mj/ 

 Brier-man co7nes to church. He comes to a morning 

 service on the Sunday. If I make no sign during the 

 week, he appears next Sunday at the evening also. 

 If I remain mute, he comes on week-days. I know 

 then that the case is urgent, and that we must come 

 to terms. Were I to fancy the Manetti instead of the 

 Brier, my impression is that he would go over to 

 Rome, or enlist in the Salvation Army. 



Having made timely arrangements to secure your 

 supply of stocks before the severities of winter are 

 likely to prevent you from planting (should sharp frost 

 surprise you during the process of removal, you must 

 ^ lay in ' your Briers securely, digging a hole for them, 

 placing them in a bundle therein, covering the roots 

 well with earth, and throwing an old mat over all), 

 you must be most vigilant in your selection of the 

 stocks themselves. Some gardeners display in this 

 matter a lamentable indifference. Their motto seems 

 to be Stemmata quid faciunt? — why should not one 

 Brier be as good as another? Their budding-ground 

 might be an asylum for the deformed, the weak, the 

 aged, instead of the school for healthful youth and 

 the training-ground for heroes. Let the amateur, 

 avoiding this fatal error, and remembering as his rule, 

 Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius^ select young, 

 straight, sapful, well-rooted stocks, that the scion may 



