NATIONAL ROSE CONFERENCE. 



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four " — I know I should feel fidgety and uncomfortable, like the 

 hunter who hears the horn in the distance, or like the soldier 

 who listens to the trumpet and the drum ; and I know the old 

 days would come back when one had the glowing happiness to go 

 into one's garden when the sun was rising, at three o'clock in 

 the morning, and seeing that splendid sight of those roses washed 

 with dew — an cmbarras des richesses ; and then the completion 

 of the box, the travelling by the rail, and the arrival, when — 



From dusk to dawn, from night to morn, 



We dozed through clank and din, 

 And woke with cramp in both our legs 



And bristles on our chin. 



Then the delight of making ourselves C.B.s— companions of the 

 bath — the arrangement of the show, the anxiety and doubt, and 

 at last the victory. Between these phases I should hardly know 

 whether to recommend a rosarian to become an exhibitor or not. 

 You will bear with my personal recollections, because you know 

 my heart is in the cause. " I am not the rose," said the earth 

 in the Persian fable, " but cherish me because we have grown 

 together." It is not right to make a long grace when we are 

 longing for the meal, and it is not right for me to make a too 

 long preface when we are going to have so much practical in- 

 formation, and so I will only add that this is a happy day to my 

 heart, It is a happy day for me, for I feel like some old grand- 

 father surrounded by his children and his children's children ; 

 and to those who are strangers, to those who are perhaps only 

 just beginning to love roses, to those who come from a distance, 

 and to those who come over the waves to England, I apply to 

 them the name, not strangers, but brothers. One touch of rose 

 love makes the whole world akin. Multce terricolis lingua', rosicolis 

 mia. Our language may be different, but there is something in 

 our hearts that has the same congruity of sound, and we 

 welcome all to-day, knowing that they will join their voices 

 with ours, Floreat regina florum ; Vive la reine des fleurs ! 



THE PEUNING OF KOSES. 

 By the Bev. A. Foster-Melliar. 



Introductory. 



In treating of the subject of pruning of roses, one is met at the 

 outset by the question : Why is pruning necessary at all ? Why 



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