A Chapter on Roses 263 



We thought to give noisettes the go-by; but the saucy, 

 rampant little beauties climb up and thrust their clusters of 

 bright blossoms into our face, and will be heard. So here 

 they are: 



HALF A DOZEN NOISETTES 



Solfaterre, bright sulphur, large. 



Jaunc Dcsprez, large bright fawn. 



Cloth of Gold, pure yellow, fine. 



Aimee Vibert, pure white, very free bloomer. 



Fellenberg, brilliant crimson 



Joan of Arc, pure white. 



"Girdle of Venus! does he call this a select list?" ex- 

 claims some leveller, who expected us to compress all rose 

 perfections into half a dozen sorts; when here we find, on 

 looking back, that W 7 e have thirty, and even then, there is 

 not a single moss rose, climbing 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 everblooming roses. 

 Compared with them, beautiful as all other roses may be 

 and are (we can't deny it), they have little chance of favor 

 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 everblooming roses make a garden of 

 themselves! Not a day without rich colors, delicious per- 

 fume, 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 be in 

 the smallest collection. That finest of all rose-gems, the 

 Old Red Moss, still at the head of all moss roses, and its curi- 

 ous cousin, the Crested Moss, 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 Greville, and Ruga Ayrshire); that iinest and richest 



