MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 231 



years since a beautiful semi-double rose, with brilliant rose-coloured flowers, 

 prominent buds, and nearly evergreen foliage, made its appearance in this 

 country, under the name of the ' L"Ile de Bourbon Rose,' said to have been im- 

 ported from the Mauritius to Fiance, in 1822, by M. Noisette. It attracted 

 attention by its peculiar habit, but more particularly by its abundant autumnal 

 flowering: still such was the lukewarmness of English rose amateurs, that no 

 attempts were made to improve this pretty imperfect rose t>y raising seedlings 

 from it, though it bore seed in large quantities. This pleasing task has been 

 left to our rose-loving neighbours the French, who have been very industrious, 

 and, as a matter of course, have originated some very beautiful and striking va- 

 rieties, and also, as usual in such cases, have given us rather too many distinct 

 and fine-sounding names attached to flowers without distinctive characters. In 

 a little time we shall be able to rectify this very common Agricultural error. 

 Many fables have been told by the French respecting the origin of this rose. 

 The most generally received version of one of these is, that a French naval 

 officer was requested by the widow of a Monsieur Edouard, residing in the island, 

 to find, on his voyage to India, some rare rose, and that, on his return to L'lle 

 de Bourbon, be brought with him this rose, which she planted on her husband's 

 grave : it was then called Rose Edouard, and sent to France as ' Rose de l'lle 

 de Bourbon.' This is pretty enough, but entirely devoid of truth. Monsieur 

 Breon, a French botanist, and now a seedsman in Paris, gives the following 

 account, for the truth of which he vouches : — ' At the Isle of Bourbon, the inha- 

 bitants generally inclose their land with hedges made of two rows of roses, one 

 row of the Common China Rose, the other of the Red Four Seasons. Monsieur 

 Perichon, a proprietor at Saint Benoist, in the isle, in planting one of these 

 hedges, found amongst his young plants one very different from the others in its 

 shoots and foliage. This induced him to plant it in his garden. It flowered the 

 following year ; and, as he anticipated, proved to be of quite a new race, and 

 differing much from the above two roses, which, at the time, were the only sorts 

 known in the island,' Monsieur Breon arrived at Bourbon in 1817, as botanical 

 traveller for the government of Fiance, and curator of the Botanical and Natu- 

 ralization Garden there. He propagated this rose very largely; and sent plants 

 and seeds of it, in 1822, to Monsieur Jacques,* gardener at the Chateau de 

 Neuilly, near Paris, who distributed them among the rose cultivators of 

 France. M. Breon named it ' Rose de l'lle de Bourbon;' and is convinced that 

 it is a hybrid from one of the above roses, and a native of the island. Owing to 

 the original being a hybrid, the roses of this family vary much in their charac- 

 ters: those that retain the leading features I have termed true Bourbons. I shall 

 now notice and describe a few of the most striking and distinct varieties of this 

 very charming group ; and begin with Armosa, quite a new variety, very double 

 and perfect in the shape of its flowers, which are of a delicate rose-colour : the 

 plant is of medium growth. Augustine Lelieur is a charming rose, a true Bour- 

 bon, so vivid and so beautiful that it cannot be too much recommended ; its 

 flowers are very erect and bell-shaped, and as fine in October as in June. Cen- 

 tifolia is a rose equally fine, but quite different in colour, which is delicately 

 pale, something like the old Celestial Rose: its flowers are more double than 

 those of Augustine Lulieur, and quite pendulous from their weight; also a true 

 Bourbon. Diaphane is a small high-coloured rose, almost scarlet. This is not 

 a true Bourbon, but a very pretty rose, of dwarf growth, adapted for the fiont of 

 a border. Dubourg is also a hybrid Bourbon, of a different character to the 

 last, as it is very robust and makes long shoots, generally terminated .'by a fine 

 cluster of flowers : in rich soils this will make a fine pillar rose. Due de Gram- 

 mont is also a hybrid Bourbon, very dwarf in its habit, with flowers of fine shape, 

 and very double, inclining to purple. Earl Grey is a genuine Bourbon Rose, of 

 first-rate excellence, with large and double flowers, of a fine rose-colour, and the 

 plant of compact though vigorous growth; its flowers have a fault too common 

 with these roses; they do not open well. Faustine is now 'an old variety ; but a 

 very pretty little rose, very dwarf in its habit, with' flowers of that silvery-pale 

 blush, so peculiar to some varieties in this group." 

 • Whence the name often given to the Common Bouibou Rose of " Bourbon Jacques." 



(To be continued.) 



