9 
has been displayed by the French, the constitution 
of our Roses would be much improved. 
Of late, too many of our new Roses have been 
deficient in two most important properties, viz., 
freedom of growth and hardiness of constitution, 
and it more frequently happens than otherwise 
that a first-class Rose of exquisite form and colour 
is either of bad habit, or too delicate to withstand 
our cold season. This delicacy has doubtless been 
produced by crossing the hardier perpetuals too 
freely with the Tea-scented and other tender sorts. 
In crossing and raising new varieties, more re- 
gard should be paid to the habit and constitution 
of the plants. Too many varieties crossed with the 
tender Tea-scented Roses have of late been intro- 
duced, and many of these rarely withstand a very 
severe winter; it is therefore necessary that the 
habit and constitution of our Roses should be 
improved, and never will this be accomplished 
until the task is taken up spiritedly by English 
amateurs and florists. 
Botanists have divided the Rose into sections, 
and again into species and sub-species, although 
the original species of each section is not easily 
defined, nor, in fact, has the origin of all been 
ascertained. So numerous has been the production 
of garden varieties, that florists have thought it 
necessary to make divisions and sub-divisions, 
taking the original species for the type, wherever it 
could be correctly ascertained ; but in too many 
instances a slight difference in the leaf or habit 
produced by cross breeding appears to have justi- 
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