and all that I could discover from personal observation was a pungent odour not suggestive of the attar of the

rose.

We began the ceremony. I held the rose-tree over the aperture prepared to receive it, the roots were carefully spread, the “bit o' fine" was thinly but deferentially applied for the encouragement of early growth in spring, the rest of the soil was filled in and compressed, the stake, if necessary, was attached, and we felt and assumed an importance which could hardly have been exceeded if we had just launched a ship or taken a child for the first time to school. I superintended the enrichment of the soil from the farmyard in December; I pruned in March; and when I became an exhibitor, I cut every rose, arranged every collection, travelled with my boxes five miles by road to the station and thence in all directions, often through the night, to the place of the show. I have more than once arrived at the Crystal Palace, one hundred and twenty miles from my home, in the early morning before the doors were opened. I was not only an exhibitor, but a judge in the supreme court, that is-in the nursery-men's classes. I won many prizes and cups. I suggested and organised the first National Rose Show, the first show of roses only. I have been for many years, since its institution, the President of the National Rose Society, and in that capacity I had the honour to be in attendance on two Queens when, in July last (1901), at the exhibition of the Society in the

Temple Gardens, the Queen of England came to visit the Queen of Flowers. I owe my progress as a rosarian to my observance of the rule which I made at its commencement, and which I earnestly commend to all young gardeners-to rely on my own exertions and always to do my best.

I will only add to my remarks on horticulture the invitation of Tennyson's famous song, "Come into the garden "-the invitation which the boy gives to his little sister as he stands with the miniature spade in his hand, which the lover gives to his sweetheart, the husband to his wife, the father to his daughter. "Come into the garden" for healthful exercise, for the most delightful of all work, because the labour we delight in physics pain, and because there is all round us the fair promise of reward. "Come into the garden" for the peaceful rest of the body and for the pure refreshment of the spirit, for meditation, 'for praise and hope. Let laud and honour those generous men who, believing in this gracious influence, have purchased and prepared pleasant places for resort and rest adjoining our cities and towns, and have presented them as a free gift to the public, giving this same invitation, "Come into the garden," to all; and let us heartily sympathise with those landowners and others in authority who are endeavouring, by the improvement of cottage gardens and the increase of allotments, and by teaching in elementary schools, to encourage horticulture.

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CONCLUSION

"THE old order changeth, yielding place to new,' and "God fulfils Himself in many ways.' Discussions and comparisons as to the advantages and disadvantages of Old and New, of Then and Now, the superior merits of this or that generation, are but vain disputations-presumptuous, if not profane. I have heard some vigorous debates on this subject, but I have not noticed any change of conviction, any modification of prejudice, or signs of mutual concession. No good can come from extravagant praise or disparagement, from sarcasm or self-assertion; but of this I am sure, that when young men hear old men speak happily and thankfully of the past, they will think more bravely and hopefully of the future, and will be more willing to hear us when we tell them that they must attribute their failures and disappointments, not to their surroundings, but to themselves; that the lot is fallen unto them in a fair ground, but that they may make it a wilderness; that the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, but that they may resist and quench it; that they will have their opportunities, to use or to neglect, their temptations, with a way to escape. Above all, we may hope from our

experience to strengthen their faith in that Infinite Love which is present always to guide and to comfort, to pity, to pardon, and to save.

I have heard and read many excellent sermons, but very few have impressed me so much as that which was preached by an old Scotch shepherd to some tourists of the baser sort, who, when they had vexed his righteous soul by their maledictions of the weather which was gone, inquired of him what he thought of the weather which was going to be. He replied that it was going to be the weather which should please them most; and when they asked derisively how he knew, "Because," he said, "it is going to be such weather as it shall please God to send, and that which He sends is best."

Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.