258 A BOOK ABOUT THE GARDEN. 



a composition of leaf mould and the top spit of pasture, 

 or a good strong clay. I cling most to the latter (and 

 it certainly returns the compliment), because, well 

 dug and hoed, it is most tenacious of manure, and 

 because the roots of the brier stock, on which the tea 

 roses should always be budded, are in the soil which 

 they like the -best. 



The best sorts (and, in order to be au courant du 

 jour, I have obtained from Mr. Prince, of Oxford, who 

 is, I think, facile princeps as a grower of tea roses, his 

 selection of the elite) are : 



Alba Eosea. Madame Lambard. 



Anna Ollivier. Marie Van Houtte. 



Catharine Mermet. Miss Ethel Brownlow. 



Comtesse Nadaillac. Mrs. Jarnes Wilson. 



Ernest Metz. Niphetos. 



Etoile de Lyon. Perle des Jardins. 



Francisca Kruger. President. 



Grace Darling. Princess of Wales. 



Hon. Edith Gifford. Rubens. 



Innocente Pirola. Souvenir de S. A. Prince. 



Jean Ducher. Souvenir d'un ami. 



Madame Cusin. Souvenir d'Elise Vardon. 



Madame Falcot. Souvenir de Paul Neyron. 



Madame C. Kuster. Sunset. 



Madame Hoste. The Bride. 



Madame de Watteville. 



The very creme de la creme are Anna Ollivier, 

 Catharine Mermet, Comtesse Nadaillac, Jean Ducher, 

 Marie Van Houtte, and the first three of the four 

 Souvenirs ; and, if I might have only one, I should 

 choose Marie Van Houtte. Well grown, it yields the 

 longest and largest abundance of all these border tea 



