THE 
FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
January, 1844 , 
ON ROSES. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
Closely associated with the love of roses is the very natural 
desire to possess them in their greatest beauty ; and much of this 
necessarily depends, not only on the skill and attention with 
which they maybe tended, but also, to an extent seldom appre¬ 
ciated, on the position or situation in which they are grown. 
The proper station for this, the queen of flowers, in our gardens 
has not yet met the attention we think it deserves; and it may 
be, that part of this neglect may he traced to opinions which have 
been promulgated, tending rather to bring this class of flowers 
into disfavour than otherwise. It has been held, that the general 
form of a rose bush is compact and lumpish, which totally unfits 
them for grouping in a tasteful manner. Granting the form 
usually assumed to be compact, or even round, it must be borne 
in mind we do not look upwards when viewing their beauties, 
as is the case when admiring the verdure of a group of trees, by 
which their outline is drawn so prominently and conspicuous 
upon the heavens behind them ; on the contrary, our attention is 
directed downwards, and, thus seen, nearly every plant or tree 
would assume the same form. Indeed, it may be questioned if 
the compactness of these plants is not an advantage, as it brings 
them more immediately into one view ; and, on the other hand, 
we believe there is scarce another family of plants, certainly not 
one so extensive, that will present a greater variety of outline, 
under the same general line of altitude, than does the Rose : but, 
even to meet difficulties, should two neighbouring plants in¬ 
dicate, a tendency to the same fotm, they are so ductile, that by 
VOL. v. NO. i. b 
