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THE ROSE BOOK.

THE FAMILIES OF WILD ROSES.

S it is better to do one thing well than two indifferently, I shall be quite content if I succeed in explaining to the satisfaction of all lovers of the rose, how to grow the flower to perfection. But whether I succeed or not in that attempt, I shall certainly not endeavour to treat of the botany of the rose, or of its history as a cultivated flower, in any except a most superficial and general way. And for a good reason. All that is known of the botany of the rose may be found in the books by those who need the information; and if there are differences of opinion as to the limitations of species and their several relationships, the better reason for avoiding the subject here, for we might soon exhaust the space needed for disquisitions on rose-culture, and the book would be not only dry but useless. As to the history of the rose, that has never yet been written, but some adventurous

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