ROSES. 
57 
and the judges, upon whose qualifications for 
the task everything depends. Let us see a 
metropolitan society established on such a plan, 
and success, such as has not attended any pre- 
viously, will be certain. Men are wearied of 
abuses in horticultural societies all over the 
kingdom. They want an example. Let that 
be set in the metropolis. Let it be done upon 
that open, free, and liberal principle which 
will engage all classes in its promotion, and 
interest all persons in its welfare. Let it be 
upon such an extensive scale, that the presence 
of men opposed to each other in some matters, 
may nevertheless, from the great number 
engaged, be individually as nothing. Look 
out for practical men for the officers ; confine 
its shows to the metropolis, but let its members 
be of all the world. Moreover, let every show 
be open to anybody as well as members, only 
make them pay for choosing their time of 
entry. This is the time for carrying out such 
a society ; and if either of those which have 
been talked of and proposed should be forward 
enough to take a promising shape, let those 
who wish well to it promote as nearly as possible 
the assimilation of its plan to the foregoing. 
Let us not hear of local societies meeting and 
dining in one place, and showing in another. 
We do not approve of the proposed central 
society with branches ; we would rather see 
the Metropolitan Society revived with all its 
faults, than see carried out a plan full of defects, 
and containing in itself the seeds of dissolution. 
There must be some leading points in any that 
is to succeed. First, the subscription of acting 
members must be not too high, and must 
secure them certain privileges. Secondly, there 
must be honorary members, who will subscribe 
what they please, but be independent of all 
responsibility. Thirdly, there must be no 
ballot or other restriction to the entrance of 
members. Fourthly, the shows must be central, 
open to all the country, and all classes, upon 
the payment of a proper sum as entrance. 
Fifthly, the prizes must be worth winning, 
and plenty of them. Sixthly, they must be 
awarded according to some standard well un- 
understood by both judges and exhibitors. 
Seventhly, the offices must be open to all mem- 
bers, to be chosen by the members. Eighthly, 
to render the income equal to the proposed 
expenditure, the trade must be applied to, and 
all other ordinary means for procuring the 
assistance of the nobility must be resorted to. 
Ninthly, the prizes must be paid on the show 
days. Tenthly, those prizes should not vary 
from each other more than ten per cent., or 
two shillings in the pound on the head prize, 
and ought to be ten in a class at the least, as 
practised at a recent exhibition in London. 
These are some of the points not to be lost 
sight of in a good metropolitan society, or 
society for the metropolis. We may proceed, 
hereafter, to offer a few hints as to the requi- 
sites for conducting a show, for it seems to be 
little understood ; and yet very simple altera- 
tions would be of great advantage. 
ROSES. 
NOTES ON THEIR CULTIVATION AND REMOVAL. 
Few people in this country are aware of 
the injustice sometimes done to Roses, which 
are condemned as worthless, when the culture 
alone is the cause of their misbehaviour. The 
Rose is a fidgety customer. The French 
people are famous for raising new varieties, 
and describing them as very superb ; the 
English nurserymen buy them as soon as they 
can be obtained, and describe them to their 
English customers as something recherche; 
they are purchased by amateur cultivators 
upon the strength of such characters, grown 
for a year, and too often thrown away as 
worthless. Once for all, let us inform our 
readers, that no Rose can be depended on for 
growing to its character under the third sea- 
son. The effect of poor culture is to make a 
double Rose semi-double and single ; and that 
which would be rich culture to anything else, 
may be poor to the Rose, because if it be not 
suitable, it may as well be poor. There are 
many things which affect the Rose, but the 
principal one is tantamount to saying, that it 
does not feel itself at home. Nurserymen 
propagate Roses rather too mechanically ; the 
greater part of them are like the countryman's 
razors, " made to sell." So long as the stock 
will keep the bud alive, and let it grow, that 
is all the nurseryman asks or wishes. As we 
once heard a plantsman say in a dispute, " If 
there be a fibre and a leaf, it is a fair plant." 
Now, it is quite certain that a stock without 
much root will live, and hundreds of plants 
sent from abroad are of this description. There 
may be strength enough in the stock to grow 
and bloom the kind upon it, but as the stock 
is not fairly at home, the first year is often 
wasted in making root enough to lay hold of 
the ground, and during this period the head 
is grown but poorly. As to blooming, there 
should be none allowed until the growth is 
vigorous, for it comes miserably poor, if at 
all. The second year it is more reconciled to 
its place, and the third may be considered a 
fair trial. Take the very best Rose we have, 
and grow it badly, the result will be bad 
flowers; but, if this be the case with well- 
known varieties, how cautious ought we to be 
of condemning a candidate for our favours, 
when we have no evidence of its real charac- 
ter ! We have heard Rose growers say it was 
impossible to tell, after a removal, what a Rose 
ought to be, by what it is ; that it ought to be 
