184 DESCRIPTION OF THE ROSE. 



the shade. As we look upon them, we survey a gor- 

 geous chaos. Here are innumerable varieties of foliage 

 and flower, perplexing us in our search for genealogies 

 and relationships. All of them, however, have, as a basis, 

 some hardy, once-blooming rose, with which has been min- 

 gled the blood of one, and often of many, of the ever- 

 blooming roses, in sufficient proportion to impart some of 

 their qualities of autumnal flowering. Many of the Hy- 

 brid Perpetuals have, as their basis, the Hybrid China 

 Rose, already described under the head of the summer 

 roses. This, as we have seen, blooms but once; but 

 when crossed with the China, Tea, Bourbon, Damask 

 Perpetual, or several of these combined, it becomes 

 capable of blooming in the autumn, without losing its 

 hardiness. Such, then, is the origin of this group ; and the 

 diversity of its characteristics answers to the diversity of 

 its parentage. Thus two roses can scarcely be more un- 

 like than Baronne Prevost and the Giant of Battles, or 

 La Reine and Arthur de Sansal. In Baronne Prevost and 

 La Reine, the hardier and more vigorous elements prevail ; 

 and they probably owe their ever-blooming qualities to an 

 infusion of the Damask Perpetual, rather than of the more 

 tender China roses. In the Giant of Battles and Arthur 

 dc Sansal, on the contrary, the China and Bourbon cle- 



