196 THE FLORIST. 



have thirty, and even then there is not a single Moss Rose, CHmbing 

 Rose, Provence Rose, Damask Rose, to say nothing of " Musk Roses," 

 "Microphylla Roses," and half a dozen other divisions that we boldly 

 shut our eyes upon ! Well, if the truth must come out, we confess 

 it boldly, that we are worshippers of the everhlooming Roses. Com- 

 pared with them, beautiful as all other Roses may be and are (we 

 can't deny it), they have little chance of favour with those that we 

 have named, which are a perpetual garland of sweetness. It is the 

 difference between a smile once a year and a golden temper, always 

 sweetness and sunshine. Why, the everhlooming Roses make a 

 garden of themselves ! Not a day without rich colours, delicious 

 perfume, luxuriant foliage. No, take the lists as they are — too 

 small by half; for we cannot cut a name out of them. 



And yet there are a few other Roses that ought to he in the smallest 

 collection. That finest of all Rose gems, the Old Red Moss, still at 

 the head of all Moss Roses, and its curious cousin, the Crested Mos€, 

 must have their place. Those fine hardy climbers, that in northern 

 gardens will grow in any exposure, and cover the highest walls or 

 trellises with garlands of beauty, the Queen of the Prairies and Balti- 

 more Belle (or, for southern gardens, say, Laure Davoust and Gre- 

 ville and Ruga Ayrshire); that finest and richest of all yellow Roses, 

 the double Persian Yellow, and half a dozen of the gems among the 

 hybrid Roses, such as Chenedole, George the Fourth, Village Maid, 

 Great Western, Fulgens Blanchefleur; we should try at least to 

 make room for these also. 



If we were to have but three Roses for our own personal grati- 

 fication, they would be. Souvenir de Malmaison, Old Red Moss, 

 General Dubourg. 



The latter is a Bourbon Rose, which, because it is an old variety, 

 and not very double, has gone out of fashion. We, however, shall cul- 

 tivate it as long as we enjoy the blessing of olfactory nerves ; for it gives 

 us all the season an abundance of flowers, with the most perfect rose- 

 scent that we have ever yet found ; in fact, the true attar of Rose. 



There are few secrets in the cultivation of the Rose. First of all, 

 make the soil deep ; and, if the subsoil is not quite dry, let it be 

 well drained. Then remember that what the Rose delights to grow 

 in is loam and rotten manure. Enrich your soil, therefore, every 

 year with well-decomposed stable-manure ; and if it is too sandy, mix 

 fresh loam from an old pasture-field ; if it is too clayey, mix river or 

 pit-sand with it. The most perfect specific stimulus that we have 

 ever tried in the culture of the Rose is what Mr. Rivers calls roasted 

 turf, which is easily made by paring sods from the lane sides, and 

 half charring them. It acts like magic upon the little spongioles 

 of the Rose, making new buds and fine fresh foliage start out very 

 speedily, and then a succession of superb and richly-coloured flowers. 

 We commend it especially to all those who cultivate Roses in old 

 gardens, where the soil is more or less worn out. 



And now, like the Persians, with the hope that our fair readers 

 " may sleep upon Roses, and the dew that falls may turn into rose- 

 water," we must end this rather prolix chapter upon Roses. 



