348 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



of anything else, without giving it much 

 careful attention. 



MANY DIFF'ERENT VARIETIES. 



The varieties of roses are innumerable, 

 and are remarkable for the extent to which 

 they differ in habit, foliage and flowers. 

 Present day garden roses are so unlike what 

 may fairly be assumed to be Nature's roses, 

 that it is difficult, if not impossible, to tell 

 from what variety they have descended. 

 Out of the 50 odd varieties, the group of 

 hybrid perpetuals for some years past has 

 supplanted all others, as most of them are 

 hardy and give beautiful bloom. I suppose 

 80 to 90 per cent, of all the roses shown at 

 exhibitions belong to this class, including 

 Paul Neyron, Her Majesty, Earl of Duf- 

 ferin, Mrs. John Laing, General Jack, 

 Etienne Levet, Charles Lefebvre, etc. 



Within the last three or four years a new 

 class has been making rapid claims for 

 popularity, and it is the Hybrid Tea, the 

 great merit of which is that it blooms pro- 

 fusely nearly all the summer months. It is 

 only necessary to keep them growing, to 

 keep them blooming, for every eye or leaf 

 bud that pushes into a branch produces a 

 flower or flowers. In speaking of this, Mr. 

 Dickson, of Belfast, Ireland, says " The Hy- 

 brid Tea is a class rapidly coming to the 

 front, and in fact bids fair in a few years 

 to outrival all others. This group is a 

 creation of recent years, and has been de- 

 rived by crossing the Hybrids with the Tea 

 scented, the result being a class of very free 

 flowering, with fine glossy foliage, and long 

 pointed buds." 



I have found them fairly hardy, having 

 grown them in my garden for the past four 

 years, 'ihis class comprises Lafrance, 



Caroline Testout, Mrs. W. J. Grant, Kil- 

 larney, ■ White Lady, and many others. 

 There is at least one rose of the polyantha 

 class that every person in Ottawa who 

 grows roses ought to have, which is the 

 Crimson Rambler. It was estimated last 

 year that one of my bushes carried between 

 12,000 and 15,000 roses when in full bloom. 



To my mind about the best dozen hybrid 

 perpetual roses for our Canadian gardens 

 are the following: Captain Hayward, 

 Countess of Roseberry, Clio, A. K. Wil- 

 liams, Duke of Edinburgh, Baroness Roths- 

 child, Etinne Levet, General Jacqueminot, 

 Madame Gabriel Luizet, Earl of Dufferin, 

 Mrs. John Laing, Mrs. R. G. Sharman 

 Crawford. For a perfect silver pink rose 

 Mrs. Laing stands head of the list, just the 

 same as Lafrance stands head and shoulders 

 over all others in the Hybrid Tea class. 



Just here let me give other amateurs who 

 may not have had quite as much experience 

 a little advice. Be careful about discard- 

 ing old favorites to make place for the sen- 

 sational, new high priced swaggering novel- 

 ties which have their glories trumpeted in 

 all the floral catalogues. Very fashionable 

 people are always chasing after something 

 fresh, they must have the very latest, and 

 the nurserymen get rid of their new novel- 

 ties at $1 to $3 each, and many of them will 

 be very disappointing. 



Therefore, hang on to the old rose bush 

 with good constitution, whose blooms have, 

 say, four essential qualities, color, form, a 

 good bloomer in autumn, and last but not 

 least, fragrance. Form may take first 

 place in points of merit, but all roses should 

 be sweet ; we cannot disassociate fragrance 

 and the rose. / 



The exhibit of plants and flowers at the 

 Dominion exhibition at Winnipeg will be 

 judged by Wm. Hunt, of the Ontario Agri- 

 cultural College, Guelph, who left on July 22 

 to be present. 



If farmers would keep half the number of 

 cows they do, and put the extra time saved 

 in the cultivation of fruit, I am satisfied they 

 would be acting wisely and that they would 

 gain financially. — (Chas. Hav, Ontario. 



