92 AUTUMNAL ROSES. 



and again in the autumn. Many botanists have 

 searched for this rose near the ruins of Psestum, 

 and other parts of Italy, but no species or variety 

 has been found at all approaching to it in cha- 

 racter. Our very old Damask Eose, the Ked 

 Monthly, not the comparatively new Eose, ' Eose 

 a Quatre Saisons' of the French, but the Eed 

 Monthly rose of our oldest writers on gardening, 

 is probably the rose which was cultivated so ex- 

 tensively in Egypt and in Eome for its quality of 

 flowering in autumn. I have frequently observed 

 the stools * of this variety, when pruned late in 

 spring, not only to flower in June and Septem- 

 ber, but also in the latter month to put forth 

 branches, which in October were covered with 

 flower buds. Now these, owing to our cold rains 

 in November, never come to perfection ; but in 

 the warm climates of Egypt and Italy, they would 

 doubtless bloom abundantly even as late as No- 

 vember. Modern gardening has made rapid 

 strides in rose culture : and the gorgeous beauty 

 of the hybrid Perpetual roses now in existence has 

 added a new and ever-increasing delight to the 

 dwellers in the civilised quarters of this old world. 

 Year by year varieties appear which can hardly 

 be surpassed, and which should be slowly and ju- 

 diciously added and ranked as standards of ex- 

 cellence — chiefs of the rose-world. Our varieties 



* These are old plants used for layering, and are cut down 

 olosely every season. 



