THE 



Qkn^EH ayiDE. 



^ ^*o<»o^-o<i-c :x 



^'€^ 



visiting 

 up of 



August, 1861. 



*^ WO EXHIBITIONS of ROSES within a few days 

 ^' of each other is the agreeable result of the effort first 

 ^S made by the National Association, which has handed 

 ^■7 ' 1 over its chosen task to the Eoyal Horticultural Society. 

 iV r It is quite true that most of the exhibitors who con- 

 tributed to the Crystal Palace Show made their appear- 

 ance in much the same manner at Kensington Gore, and 

 in a few cases the very same flowers were shown. Bat the 

 tables were turned in several instances, and those who were 

 first in one instance were second or third in the other. In 

 these exhibitions we had in our mind that, on the break- 

 the winter, noisettes, teas, and hybrid perpetuals were scarcely 

 to be had for love or money; that such roses as had survived the 

 winter were making as free a bloom as ever, though the blooms were 

 rather thinner and more open than usual ; that most of the old summer 

 roses had escaped the winter unhurt, and that a certain number of the 

 new roses were to be looked for in competition with the very best of the 

 established varieties. Respecting the new roses, the most sanguine lover 

 of novelties could not have been disappointed. They Avere brought to 

 their stands in plenty, and a certain number proved equal to the most 

 renowned in our best lists, and a few in some respects superior. But 

 instead of summer roses making a more than usual figure, the principal 

 triumphs were accomplished by means of teas and hybrid perpetuals, 

 and these two classes are evidently acquiring chief authority in the court 

 of the Queen of Flowers. The show at Kensington was unquestionably 

 the best as to the merit of the stands ; the amateurs were in the ascendant 

 at Sydenham, and the niirserymen took the lead at the show of the Hor- 

 ticultural Society. 



As usual, the most plentifully exhibited of all the roses was that free 

 grower, free bloomer, and wonder of colour. General Jacqueminot. The 

 General has some formidable rivals, and if we except Geant des Batailles, 

 which is utterly eclipsed by it, we have as first-rate varieties in the same 

 class — Prince Leon, an exquisitely-formed high-coloured rose ; Senateur 

 Yaisse, a rare grower on its own roots, but being unfairly dealt with in 



VOL. IV. XO. VIII. I 



