52 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 17,1899, 
generally finding the most favour with Mr. Foster-Melliar, for the 
reasons given in the book. He seems to reason on everything, and tries 
to prove most things in practice, and thus it is that his pages are so 
useful and so fresh. 
Following the chapters referred to are others on “ Pests,” and how 
to “ catch ’em ” by the author’s favourite insecticide—finger and 
thumb ; “ Eoses Under Glass,” very well done; " Propagation,” fully 
treated ; “ Manners and Customs ” of varieties, the most complete and 
accurate descriptions of Eoses ever written ; “Selections of Varieties” 
for rosarians, with the inevitable “ Calendar of Operations,” but com- 
mendably concise in under a dozen pages of readable reminders of when 
the various details explained in the book should be carried out. 
The photographic illustrations are very beautiful, from Mrs. Orpen’s 
shower bouquet as the frontispiece to the same lady’s buttonhole 
bouquet at the end ; and not less so are the portraits of several exhibi¬ 
tion blooms, the varieties of which would be distinguishable without 
the names. 
By favour of the publishers we give one illustration from this 
“ Book of the Eose,” not because it is the most beautiful by any means, 
but for two other reasons—firstly, because the author has not ignored 
picturesque garden Eoses, and, secondly, because we happen to be 
notable volume, and probably no one will be found to quarrel with'the 
author for his use of the definite article in its title. 
Perhaps the feature which, more than any other, differentiates this 
book from its compeers is Chapter XII. (which besides being the most 
important is the longest in the book), in which the author, taking up 
the N.E,S. Catalogue of exhibition Eoses, gives a careful and detailed 
account of the “ manners and customs ” of every variety. The habit 
ani peculiarities of growth and leaf and flower are all treated of ; the 
beauties of each flower extolled ; and then, in many cases, the author 
goes on with—“ but,” and there follows a faithful pointing out of the 
defects, either of flowering or growth, or both, of these varieties, so that 
both sides of the picture are presented in each case. After the matter 
of this chapter first appeared as notes in the Journal of Horticulture 
I wrote to the author that no more valuable contribution to our Eose 
literature had appeared during the past ten years, and now that it is 
presented in its permanent form there is no reason to revise this 
judgment. The Tea and Noisette classes are treated with the same 
fulness as their H.P. brethren, and it will certainly not be the fault of 
the author if in future beginners in Eose culture, or any others, are 
found wearying themselves and cumbering their gardens with varieties 
I which give a satisfactory return, say once in a septenate. The illustra- 
Fia. 9.—AN AYESHIEE WEEPING EOSE. 
acquainted with the specimen in question, which was described in our 
columns a few years ago. If it is not the finest standard Eose in 
Britain it is, we suspect, the finest budded, and grown to its present 
dimensions, by a farmer—one of those men who are never satisfied 
unless he does all things well that he undertakes, and thus he has a 
seat in one “local parliament” in his district, and his accomplished 
helpmeet in another. _ We allude to Mr. and Mrs. Ismay Fisher of 
Sturton, near Brigg, Lincolnshire. The present dimensions of the Eose 
are—height, 12 feet; diameter, 15 feet; and the circumference of the 
Briar stem, 12 inches. As will be perceived the specimen is faultless 
in shape, and when covered with thousands of delicately tinted flowers 
it is a picturesque object on the lawn. It is the Ayrshire Eose Euga. 
We have only one more remark in reference to the work of Mr. 
Foster-Melliar, and it is this All persons who love the Queen of the 
Summer that holds sway throughout his pages, and who desire to see 
her charms displayed in fullest beauty in gardens or exhibitions, should 
not be happy till they severally and individually own this extremely 
attractive and emphatically useful “ Book of the Eose.” 
A Critique. 
Until the autumn of last year the rosarian had for his guidance 
(apart from a number of small popular handbooks) two great works 
upon his favourite flower—viz., “ The Eose Garden,” by Mr. W. Paul; 
and “ A Book About Eoses,” by Dean Hole. But now a third has been 
added to these in the work under notiee, and in future, when the ardent 
amateur refers to his authorities as Paul, Hole, and Foster-Melliar, he 
will mention them in this order with reference only to priority of 
publication ; for it would be an invidious selection indeed which should 
assign their order of merit. The book is undoubtedly a valuable and 
tions, showing typical blooms of fourteen different varieties, are also an 
important adjunct to this chapter and to the book. 
Our author will not at once carry all practitioners with him in all 
that he advanees; but then, perhaps, he does not desire to do so. 
Certainly he has not sacrificed any of his opinions in an attempt to 
accomplish this. This is especially the case in the chapter on manures, 
where some decidedly novel ideas are presented. After all these years 
of heavy annual top-dressings of solid manure, in all the Eose gardens 
of the country, it is a little startling to be told in effect that the prac¬ 
tice is useless, and that all our labour and material have been wasted. 
And after all we have read and heard and been taught as to the 
desirability of keeping roots near the surface, and that the best way of 
doing so was to provide the manorial sustenance there, it comes almost 
as a shock to be told that the only proper place for the manure is at a depth 
of 2 feet below the roots of the trees, and that even the old “ sandwich ” 
method of manure and soil and manure and soil has nothing to recom¬ 
mend it. But with a grower so suecessful at the exhibition table as Mr. 
Foster-Melliar it is useless to dispute the correctness of this, or any 
other, detail of practice. To every possible objection he has—“ up his 
sleeve ”—the unanswerable reply, “ Look at my results.” And some of 
us would probably find it almost as difficult to explain away that for¬ 
midable list of successes, gained (presumably) under the disputed 
treatment, as to account for our own failures with more orthodox 
methods. The details as to the time and manner of applying certain 
separate elements, in aecordance with the advancing requirements of 
the trees, and the prevailing conditions of the atmosphere are most care¬ 
fully and elaborately given. 
These are the most prominent chapters in this valuable work, or at 
least they are all to which space will allow of detailed reference ; but 
