102 THE GARDENER. [March 



I 



longevity, abundance, in the amplitude of its glossy leaves, and the 

 general habit of the plant — our every desire and hope. We possessed 

 some approximations to Gloire de Dijon in our Tea and Bourbon Roses. 

 Charles Lefebvre was a development of General Jacqueminot ; but of 

 a hardy Golden Rose, more precious and more welcome a thousand 

 times than those Golden Roses which popes have sent to favoured 

 kings, we saw no harbinger. The beautiful old Yellow Provence was 

 all but extinct. I have never seen it, except in the gardens of Burleigh 

 — *' Burleigh House by Stamford town." The few splendid petals of 

 the Persian Yellow only increased our sacra fames auri — the egg-cup 

 made us long for the tankard of gold. Solfaterre had not depth of 

 colour; Solfaterre was faulty in shape ; Cloth of Gold was not meant to 

 be worn out of doors, and was quickly tarnished by rough weather ; 

 and even the Marechal's own mother, Isabella Gray, had displayed such 

 feeble charms that no one mourned her sterility. Suddenly, unex- 

 pectedly, she produced a paragon. I have not placed it at the head of 

 the list, for the sole reason that I have not yet perfectly satisfied myself 

 as to its capacities in this particular department — that is, as a Climbing 

 Rose. I have not fully proved it, and I shall make no statement in 

 these papers which my own experience has not taught me. Having 

 grown the Rose, since its distribution, both in beds and on a wall — and 

 this, I rejoice to say, in the fullest phase of its beauty — I believe it to 

 be perfectly hardy, and likely to be the king of the climbers ; but until 

 it has passed unscathed one of our severest v/inters, and then covered a 

 large space with its exquisite Eoses, I will say no more. A climbing 

 Rose-tree is the one which should be least accessible to destructive in- 

 fluence, seeing that the sad signs of decay and death are more painfully 

 and prominently displayed upon it, and the harm done less quickly 

 repaired. The frost of Christmas Eve, 18G0, killed Rose-trees to the 

 ground which had covered my house for years. Would Marechal 

 Niel abide such an ordeal as that? There is good reason for the 

 anticipation in the following statement, which appeared in ' The Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle' of January 19, 1867. The writer, Mr Godwin of the 

 Rosarium, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, reports : " The frost here, in the 

 valley of the Dove, on the nights of the 2d and the 14th, equalled in 

 intensity that of the memorable Christmas Eve of 1860, when the 

 thermometer feU some 6° below zero ; and at present it appears to 

 have done its work nearly as effectively. The tender tribes of Noi- 

 sette, Bourbon, and Tea Roses on the low grounds appear to be all 

 killed. We are, however, delighted to see our old and valued friend, 

 Gloire de Dijon, entirely unscathed ; and, better still, Marechal Niel, 

 the best of the Yellows, seems none the worse for the trying ordeal 

 to which he has been subjected." And again, in the same publication. 



