13) The Scented garden fj£ 



lovely Hybrid Tea, La France, raised by Guillot in 1 867, 

 still happily survives. How beautiful one thought this 

 rose when one was a child ! Mr. Henry Bennet was the 

 first English breeder of Hybrid Teas, his most notable 

 success being Caroline Testout, ' the slave of the rose 

 garden,' during the latter part of the nineteenth century. 

 Caroline Testout has wellnigh disappeared now, but she 

 has famous descendants : Madame Abel Chatenay, 

 General McArthur, Antoine Rivoire and Madame 

 Ravary being amongst the most notable. Why does one 

 so seldom see now the splendid old Gloire de Dijon, 

 introduced in 1853, for this rose is at home under any 

 conditions, one of the earliest to bloom and the last to 

 give out, and has in abundant measure the true tea per- 

 fume. It was of this rose that Dean Hole said he would 

 choose it if he could have only one rose for the rest of 

 his life. Hybrid Teas have long since ceased to be crosses 

 between true Tea roses and Hybrid Perpetuals, for now 

 there is a bewildering infusion of Austrian Briars, Rugosas, 

 Persian Yellow, Polyanthas, etc. It is a pity that Colonel 

 Leclerc (sent out by Pernet Ducher in 1909) has gone out 

 of commerce, for this cherry-red rose had a remarkable 

 fragrance. Of the Hybrid Teas, the three whose perfume 

 I love most are Chateau de Clos Vougeot (of straggly 

 growth in bush form, should be grown as a climber), 

 Columbia, and General McArthur, the last-named being 

 by general consent one of the roses for every garden, for 

 it succeeds in almost every soil, and blooms continuously. 

 Ophelia, Etoile de Hollande and Shot Silk, especially the 

 last two, have also the true old rose scent. Of the newer 

 roses Lady Helen Maglona and Bedford Crimson are 

 deliciously scented. Both are vigorous growers. 

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