UNPRUNED DROOPING ROSES. 



BY MR. RIVERS, OF SAWBRIDGEWORTH. 



About six or eight years ago I received, among others, some very 

 stout short stocks of the Dog-Rose ; they were not more than two 

 feet in height, but stouter than a large broom - handle, the bark 

 thick and grey with age : they were planted, and grew most luxuri- 

 antly. I was for some little time at a loss what varieties to bud 

 them with ; for, be it remembered, all stout and old Rose-stocks require 

 to be worked with very strong- growing sorts of Roses, to take off 

 the abundance of sap, and keep them in a healthy state. At last, 

 in a mere freak of fancy, I had them budded with some varieties of 

 the evergreen Rose (Rosa sempervirens) . They grew most luxuri- 

 antly ; and after a year or two, not being trees adapted for sale, they 

 were planted in a sloping bank of strong white clay, and left to 

 grow and bloom as nature dictated, — not a shoot was ever touched 

 with the pruning-knife. 



The annexed figure is a portrait of one of these trees, now a 

 well-known variety, the Felicite" Perpetuelle, or, according to some 

 authorities, Felicite Perpetue. This tree is on a stem a trifle 

 more than two feet in height, and it has been these two or three 

 summers past a picture of beauty. When in full bloom, the ends of 

 its shoots rest on the ground, and it then forms a perfect dome of 

 Roses ; nothing in Rose-culture can really be more beautiful. It will 

 be at once seen with what facility such stout, short, old Rose-stocks 

 can be found in any hedge ; they may be planted in the kitchen- 

 garden, budded with the above-mentioned sort, and, to give variety 

 in colour, with some of the following kinds, all varieties of Rosa 

 sempervire?is, Princesse Marie, Princesse Louise, Rampant, Bank- 



