98 
THE FLORISTS JOURNAL. 
feelings, long before the organs are capable of giving those 
feelings “ a local habitation and a name.” Turn an infant out 
O 
to free range in the garden, when it is but just able to totter, and 
would certainly be upset by descending from the grass-plat to 
the gravel-walk, and let there be within the sphere of its young 
vision, and the reach of its little hands, flowers of all hues, and 
in every stage of expansion : it may admire and exult over some 
more than others ; but let a Rose-tree, redolent of buds, and with 
no lack of expanded blossoms, once catch its eye, and to that it will 
totter with an eagerness and rapidity previously unknown. Full¬ 
blown Roses are also generally admired; but the admiration of 
them wants the glee and excitement produced by the buds. 
These the child specially claims as its own, and pulls them off 
with all its might; but as the principle of hoarding does not yet 
display itself, the infant either pulls the individual bud to pieces, 
or instantly drops one in order to pull others. This clearly shows 
that there is a fascination about Rose-buds arising purely from 
nature, and not in the least influenced by those feelings of and 
fondness for property which so generally corrupt the minds even 
of those who are most thoroughly good in their childhood. This 
shows, as clearly as such matters can be demonstrated, that there 
is a charm in this early stage of the Rose, which accords well with 
the honest simplicity of human beings in the very early stages of 
life, and when the world generally can have no influence upon 
them. When Roses are in full blow, they are certainly, in every 
sense of the word, the most delightful flowers which the florist 
can cultivate ; and much as he can do, and has done, in the case of 
other flowers, the Rose is the most obedient to his labour, and 
rewards him better for it than any other flowering plant. An ample 
bed of Roses, such as that of Mr. Rivers at Sawbridgeworth, 
which extends over eight or ten acres, in which all the plants are 
of the choicest sort, their history known, and their health and 
bloom in the greatest perfection, has no parallel among the pro¬ 
ductions of the earth. The habits and colours of the several 
varieties are varied almost without end, and yet there is great 
beauty in each of them. Then the perfume with which they em¬ 
balm the zephyr as it plays gently over them, is quite unique, 
and nothing among other flowers can be compared to it. Most 
of the fragrant flowers have something of a sickly nature in their 
perfume, which, while it gratifies the sense for a little, soon brings 
