= November. 1, 1904 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
qn 
: “A. queen more wonderful 
Than any who have bloomed on Orient 
thrones ; 
Sabean Empress! 
small, 
Beauty and infinite sweetness sweetly 
dwell 
Unextricable.” 
im her breast though 
THE ROSE. 
By Mr. A. H. Scarre. 
Mr. A. H. Scarfe, of Unley Park, has 
Jecen head of the list of rosarian prize- 
takers in Adelaide for many years, and his 
enthusiasm for the Queen of Flowers 
makes his prizetaking always popular. We 
are pleased to have an introduction from 
this pen to our Rose Number, and also to 
present some illustrations from his garden, 
where the champions were cultivated. 
The pursuit of floriculture has from time 
immemorial possessed a great attraction 
for a large proportion of civilised human- 
ahy. As a recreation it attracts both 
- young and old; as a means of livelihood it 
differs from the great majority of occu- 
pations which men engage in, many of 
‘awhich are absolutely distasteful to those 
who practise them. Such, however, is not 
the case with the majority of those who 
enter upon floriculture as a profession. 
The very nature of the occupation, its 
charming variety, the thousand and one 
forms of plant life with which the florist 
as’ brought into contact, redeem it. from. 
#he unending monotony which in too many 
pursuits relegates men to the position of 
mere machines, and affords but little scope 
for the development of the finer faculties, 
and the growth of a, refining influence. To 
the florist who is brought into direct asso- 
giation with Nature in some of its most 
attractive forms, the continual introduc- 
tion of new and improved types of floral 
beauty, the result of the skill and untiring 
ypatience of the hybridiser, is ever produc- 
tive of an interest which never grows stale 
Decatise of the influence it exerts in stimu- 
ating further research and experiment 
into new paths, and quickening in the am- 
Sitious mind -the, desire to produce some- 
thing new. There is an innate love for 
flowers in the human heart, and even those 
who are most callous and indifferent in 
other respects are not insensible to their 
Gnfluence. It has been said: “Give a man 
possession of a barren rock and he will 
‘goon start a garden,” and although, as an 
_ old, gardener once remarked, “Flowers may 
mot make the pot to boil,” they are, -as 
. every one knows, a source of much genuine 
- pleasure, and their cultivation gives a re- 
-#urn in health and happiness which has as 
-wertain a monetany value as if the cash ,ac- 
tually found its way into the pocket. It 
may be taken as a, floricultural axiom: that 
#he rose occupies the position of pre-em1- 
_mence amongst the myriads of flowers 
owhich -are to be found the world “over. 
Beauty of form, infinite diversity of color, 
‘delicate and ,unsurpassed fragrance, are 
qualities which entitle ‘her to the appela- 
tion of “Queen of Flowers.’ The poet 
Cowper about the middle of last century, 
wrote: 
The nymph must lose her. female friend, 
If more admired than she: 
But where will fierce contentions end 
If flowers can disagree? 
Within the garden’s peaceful scene 
Appeared two lovely foes, 
Aspiring to the rank of queen— 
The Lily and the Rose. 
The Rose soon reddened into rage, 
And swelling ,with disdain, 
Appealed to many a poet's page 
To prove her right to reign. 
The Lily’ height bespoke command— 
A. fair, imperial flower— 
Shé seemed designed for Flora’s land, 
The sceptre of her power. 
This civil bickering and debate 
The goddess chanced to hear, 
And flew to save, ere yet too late, 
The pride of the parterre. 
“Yours is,” she said, “the nobler hue, 
And yours the statelier mien, 
And till a third surpasses you,’ 
Let each ,.be deemed a queen.” 
Thus soothed and reconciled, each seeks 
The fairest British fair ; 
The seat of empire is her cheeks— 
They reign united there. 
Notwithstanding this pretty sentiment 
of Cowper's, it must not be forgotten that 
centuries before the poet lived, the rose 
had taken its place as the Queen of Flow- 
ers, and had been adopted as the national 
flower of England. 
Of all the flowers that have been altered 
in character by careful selection, and by 
the cultivation of the gardener, the rose 
perhaps holds first rank. It occupied a pro- 
minent place in the gardens of Egypt 3,000 
years or more before the Christian era; 
the rose gardens of Persia—the natural 
home of the rose—of Syria, and other east- 
ern lands are still, as they have been 
for ages, the wonder and delight of travel- 
lers. The historian Pliny speaks of twelve 
different varieties of this flower which were 
cultivated by the Romans, and it is on re- 
cord that the Emperor Tiberius, in addition 
to forcing cucumbers, also forced roses in 
houses, where thin sheets of tale or mica 
were used as a substitute for glass. It is 
in our own time, however, in which the 
- greatest contributions of new and improved: 
varieties have been made. In.no part of 
the world is the rose more universally or. 
‘by professional gardeners, which, 
“hobby. 
enthusiastically cultivated than in the 
mother country, where the. names of ‘the 
most skilful rosarlans are house-words, 
and the shows of the National Rose So- 
ciety have a world-wide reputation. In the 
cultivation of the rose there is no royal 
road to perfection. There are no mysteri- 
ous secrets that I am aware of practised 
all 
things being equal, should give them the 
pre-eminence in the production of specially 
good flowers. This is borne out by the 
fact that in England some of the most 
distinguished rosarians are amateur grow- 
ers, who time after time have made the 
professionals “sit up” by wresting from 
“them the coveted trophies of the exhibition 
table as tributes to that persevering indus- 
try and determination to excel which all 
must practise if success is to be achieved. 
Plant well in the first place, manure well, 
prune with discretion, give abundance of 
light and air, and I have found little clse 
necessary. These are the chief factors to 
success, but these are indispensable. The 
rose is thoroughly cosmopolitan; she im- 
partially bestows her favors alike on the 
prince and the peasant. She blooms with 
equal excellence in the garden of the 
humble cottager as In the expensively ar- 
rayed and ornate domain of the million- 
aire; gives an added charm when worn by 
feminine beauty, and brightens with color 
and refreshes with fragrance many a sick 
chamber. To any who may be induced by 
these stray thoughts to pay some attention 
to rose culture, I can promise from my own 
experience that it will prove a satisfying 
_ It will entail a certain amount: 
of hard work, but hard work rarely ‘xills, 
and in this case it is work that will prove 
to be a recreation’; it will induce the very 
excellent habit of early rising, for is not 
the early morning the time for unalloyed 
enjoyment when moving about amongst 
your rose trees. It will enforce prompti- 
tude of action, for there must be no pro- 
crastination where the treatment of roses. 
is concerned, especially in the matter of 
aphis and caterpillars, and it is a hobby 
which will prove in many ways an effectual 
antidote to those carking cares.and worry- 
ing anxieties which seem to be inseparable 
from evenyday life. As a mental: disci- 
pline, therefore, as a botanical study, as 
affording a means of outdoor recreation 
which results in intense enjoyment to our- 
self and one’s friends, I can confidently re- 
commend the culture of that exquisite 
flower to which we more especially do hom- 
age. One other remark by way of a 
warning.» I have amongst several of my 
friends enthusiastic gardeners whose space 
of ground unfortunately is not in due pro- 
portion to their ambition, seen the deyelop- 
ment of such an enthusiasm in their flori- 
‘cultural pursuits ag almost to induce the 
belief that the rank weed of selfishness had 
‘taken! firm’ root’ within them. ~ Every-inch 
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