ROSE-GROWING NEAR LARGE TOWNS. 



10G9 



RO SE -GROWING NEAR LARGE TOWNS. 



By H. E. Molyneux, F.R.H.S. 



Read before the Horticultural Club, December '.), 11)02. 



It is a matter of general comment that amongst the many signs of pro- 

 gress this generation has made may be fairly reckoned an increased 

 interest that its individual members have taken in things horticultural ; 

 and one looks for, and finds, this taking the form of an improved appear- 

 ance in the gardens of our suburban householders. It does not do, 1 am 

 afraid, to go any deeper than the surface, and to ask whether this improved 

 appearance means an intelligent interest, or whether it is another form of 

 what Carlyle calls, somewhat harshly, 1 that terrible cancer,' for the sake of 

 appearances. Jones has a respectable-looking garden because Smith has. 

 But it is a fact, be the reason what it may, that there is this increased 

 interest in the garden ; and it is the aim, I take it, of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society, and indirectly, therefore, of this Club, to endeavour to seize 

 hold of this interest and to make it something more — a desire to cultivate 

 flowers for their own sake. And what flower will be most likely to assist 

 in this desired end ? What flower is likely to be the most interesting 

 from the ordinary individual's point of view ? What flower will he be 

 most proud of when he can grow it to perfection ? Is there any doubt as 

 to the correct answer to these questions ? Surely it is the Rose ; and what 

 then are the reasons why we do not find the queen of flowers in every 

 garden '? Are the reasons reasonable '? Are they tenable ? Or are the 

 difficulties of its culture too great '? Is the rose such a flower that it can 

 only be grown, like the orchid, under special conditions and at great cost '? 

 Is it a hopeless task to attempt its culture near large towns ? These are 

 a few of the queries that naturally arise, for one must admit that, taken as 

 a whole, one finds but few roses in the gardens round London ; and the 

 attitude which that important person — important by reason of his numbers 

 — the ordinary individual, adopts towards Rose-growing in his own garden 

 is, I am afraid, one of two kinds : either he approaches the matter with 

 extreme diffidence, so extreme that he is afraid to grow Roses at all, or it 

 a few Roses are to be found, they are far from what they should be. An 

 inquiry elicits the statement that he " has tried a few standards, they 

 were a failure ; it i y quite useless to grow Roses in his garden — he is too 

 near London — the soil is bad," and so on. Any reason is given except the 

 correct one, that he is simply too lazy to take the slight amount of trouble 

 necessary to find out how to grow Roses in his own particular garden. 



What, then, is the correct way to go to work to grow Roses near large 

 towns ? To take the natural order of things, we have first of all the 

 ground, then the plant, then the combination of the two — the planting, 

 leading up to the pruning, cultivation, and so on to the flower. And I 

 am inclined to think that in this natural order is to be found the order of 

 their relative importance. 



With reference to the ground and its preparation, the first question is 



