XII MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 283 



thing. It has very good lasting qualities in form, but the 

 freshness of the first colour is very difficult to maintain 

 and shading will destroy it. Rather late, and best as a 

 standard, it requires fine hot weather, and needs pro- 

 tection against rain. Very free-flowering, the buds 

 must be well thinned to get exhibition blooms, but are 

 charming half-open in themselves. It is certainly one 

 of the best of the roses raised in Ireland up to the 

 present time, and would be likely to rise still further, 

 I think, in general estimation, if the strong flowers 

 would keep to the imbricated shape, and the colour 

 prove less fleeting. 



EtoiU de Lyon (Guillot, 1881). — This does well as a 

 dwarf, and has strong good growth and foliage, but is a 

 very disappointing Rose out of doors, having been much 

 over-praised. The blooms come generally badly, of con- 

 fused and queer shapes, and require as a rule very dry 

 warm w^eather ; yet the sort did better, oddly enough, with 

 me in the cold wet summer of 1888 than many other Teas. 

 A Rose whose performance is not up to its promise ; for 

 when you do get a well-shaped and regular bloom from 

 a strong and very stout shoot it is surprising how small 

 and insignificant it looks when set up beside other Tea 

 Roses cut from much slenderer and weaker stems. 

 This is partially accounted for, no doubt, by the 

 globular shape, and by the outer petals being short, 

 and kept well up to the bloom. Those are always the 

 most effective shapes, where the outer petals are the 

 longest, and stand well away from the flower like great 

 Avings. As in the ancient sport of Falconry, the short- 

 winged Roses arc of quite a lower order compared to 

 the long-winged ones. It is something of the shape 

 and colour of Monsieur Furtado, a very weak variety 

 now generally dropped, though larger, as indeed it 



