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THE FLORIST. 
Hole was only shown by one exhibitor, Mr. Standish,’ who is the sole 
proprietor, and coming from Bagshot, a soil unfavourable' to the Rose, 
was by no means shown in its perfection; but it was universally 
admired for its originality of colour, a fresh, charming, vivid Rose— 
“lovely pink,” according to “ D. of Deal”—which may be seen, tO 
quote another excellent critic, “ among 50 sorts at 500 yards distance.” 
This latter authority has qualified his praise by remarking that the 
flower is no great acquisition to florists, but I hope, when he sees it in 
1862, he will allow himself to be beat on that point. For vigorous 
growth, and for the abundance and perpetuity of its flowers, this Rose 
can hardly be surpassed. 
There were many other Roses, of recent introduction and about to 
be introduced, quite good enough to ensure them a place in every 
superior collection. Among the former were Gloire de Santhenay, 
Madame Boll, General Forey, Roi David, Victor Verdier, Madame 
Charles Crapelet, Mademoiselle Bonnaire—all Hybrid Perpetuals; 
Victor Emmanuel, Bourbon; and Boule d’Or, Due de Magenta, and 
Rubens, Teas ; and among the latter were John Standish (which I 
have since seen in great beauty), Madame Furtado, Prairie de Terre 
Noire, Mrs. Standish, General Washington, Marguerite Appert; Due 
Decazes, and Gregoire Bourdillon. All these I commend earnestly to 
my brethren who love the Rose. 
Of this Show generally, it may be said that, although the best 
growers showed their best Roses, the exhibition was necessarily inferior 
to the three National Rose Shows which preceded. This necessity 
arose from the untoward summer and pitiless winter of 1860, which 
killed half the Rose trees of England, and injured a great proportion 
of the survivors. The Roses at Kensington were deficient, in conse¬ 
quence, both as to size and colour. Some of the boxes, when the lids 
were removed, instead of presenting the glowing diversity of tints and 
the glossy freshness of foliage which we have been accustomed to see, 
showed a dreary surface of dull lilac flowers, reposing on leaves of almost 
“ invisible green.” Many of them, invalids when they started, were 
terribly altered by the journey, and disappointment was as visible upon 
the faces of their exhibitors as upon the countenance of the sailor who 
expected grog in the bottle he had found, and opened it to discover— 
tracts. I remember, in my merry Oxford days, bringing home the 
leader of a tandem, so very dirty and disfigured, by a little gallop of 
20 miles on a wet night from Henley, that the ostler started back on 
seeing him, and positively asserted “ that bearCt our Harkaway ;” and 
some of the Rose growers seemed to me to be murmuring, in their sad 
surprise, “ that beant my General Jacqueminot r 
Such adversities of weather are not likely to recur, and we may 
hope—“not to the past, but to the future looks true nobility”—to 
“see another sight,” when the knights of the Rose hold their next 
tourney at Kensington. They were there in July, but their armour 
was rusted and their plumes draggled by the rain, the temper of their 
lances injured by the frost, and their good steeds sadly out of condition. 
May they meet, in gallant state, in 1862, and the dear Queen of all 
Rose-loving hearts—Victoria!—be there to see ! S. R. H. 
