56 THE ROSE. 



most valuable, if not the most beautiful, 

 of all groups of roses. The first varieties 

 sent out were mostly from crosses of Bour- 

 bons upon Damask Perpetuals and Hybrid 

 Chinas ; afterwards crosses were made with 

 varieties of Provence, Damask, and French 

 roses upon Bourbons, Bengals, and Teas, and 

 vice versa. The progeny of these was then 

 recrossed with different classes, and so it is 

 we have a group of the most heterogeneous 

 character, combining the good and bad quali- 

 ties, in greater or less degree, of nearly all 

 the others. There are certain types in this 

 group which gather together many varieties, 

 in which the relationship to some one sort 

 is readily discerned, as the Jules Margottin 

 type, General Jacqueminot and its progeny, 

 and the La Reine family ; but there is a vast 

 number of sorts whose kinship cannot be 

 traced; this is owing to the fact that the 

 greater number of varieties have been raised 

 from mixed seed, where no record was made 

 of the names ; and also that in many cases, 

 where the seed of different varieties was 

 sown separately, there has often been a 

 carelessness in making such a record, de- 

 pendence being placed on the memory alone. 

 So that many varieties whose parentage is 

 given are oftentimes not properly traced; 



