500 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



them in festoons alongside walks of grass and gravel, as at Milton Court ; 

 train them up tall pillars, a3 at Aldenham House ; and let them climb 

 deciduous trees, and send their flowery shoots in riotous growth among 

 the branches, as at Ascott and Syon ; and clothe tall walls and trellises 

 with their verdure and blossom, as in the case of so many gardens. It 

 may be that, as we watched the dismemberment of the blossoms, we 

 should ask of them, Why do ye leave us so soon? But it would be 

 impossible to avoid watching with considerable interest the white, pink, 

 or ruddy petals falling silently in clouds on the smooth-shaven lawn or 

 neatly kept walk, or sent here and there by the eddies of the soft winds 

 which add so much to the pleasures of our gardens during June and the 

 following months. We may have showers of Roses ; but the rain must be 

 of our own making — a fact that will make them all the more enjoyable 

 to those who have within their breasts the true love of the Rose. 



The increasing popularity of more natural methods of arranging and 

 cultivating Roses can hardly fail to give much pleasure to those who, like 

 myself, are desirous of seeing them more largely employed in beautifying 

 the gardens and grounds of the country house, and in a manner that will 

 display their distinctive character. I rejoice to find evidence of this on 

 all sides, because it justifies the hope that at no distant date we may see 

 these flowers represented in gardens on a scale commensurate with their 

 surpassing beauty and absorbing interest. 



Standard Roses. 



I have suggested that to attain a certain object we may raise aloft 

 standards in the garden ; but the standard I have in mind is not the 

 standard that has fluttered in the breeze for so many years past. This 

 standard, which has for so long a period had so large a following, has led 

 not a few of its followers astray, and thereby proved in some degree a 

 hindrance to the extension of Rose culture. The Rose is not to blame, 

 nor can any blame be attached to either the trade growers or the horti- 

 cultural press. The standard is not a form for which many Roses have 

 a liking ; the trade growers must of necessity grow that for which there 

 is a demand, and the writers have not failed to give sound advice on this 

 aspect of Rose culture. It might then well be asked, On whose shoulder 

 does the blame rest ? I am not disposed very seriously to blame anyone ; 

 it is the fault of a system rather than any group of persons. Owners of 

 gardens who love Roses, but have not had opportunities for becoming 

 acquainted with the great difference in the constitution and growth of 

 varieties, visit the Rose shows and closely scrutinise the boxes. They are 

 attracted by certain blooms staged in, it may be, the trophy class. 

 They make note of these varieties, and when the time comes round for 

 planting they send their orders for them to their nurserymen, or instruct 

 their gardeners to buy them. The Roses are received and planted, and, 

 as the varieties producing the finest blooms for exhibition purposes are 

 for the most part the least vigorous, the majority make a poor growth ; 

 and, after a comparatively short struggle, they succumb to the inevitable, 

 and are rooted out to make way for others. Consequently the garden 

 that is largely furnished with standards of varieties selected from ex- 



