§& The Old "Hoses f% 



The beautiful Macartney rose (R. Bracteata), intro- 

 duced from China by Sir George Staunton, who accom- 

 panied Lord Macartney's embassy to China in 1792, has a 

 most curiously unroselike scent. Those great star-like 

 golden-eyed, white flowers, set in a wealth of shining green 

 foliage, have a smell suggestive of some pleasing but by 

 no means sweet fruit. That lovely modern rose, Mermaid, 

 which is a hybrid, is sweetly scented, but the peculiar 

 fascination of the scent of the Macartney rose is entirely 

 lacking. The rugosa rose, which is a native of Japan, 

 Korea and the extreme north-east of Asia, was intro- 

 duced into England in 1 796. These roses are not notable 

 for their fragrance but many of the hybrids are very 

 sweetly scented, notably the silvery rose-coloured Conrad 

 F. Meyer, and best of all, Rose a parfum de l'Hay, a 

 treasure indeed, for the scent of this rose is wellnigh 

 incomparable. The double white-flowered Banksian rose 

 (which is exquisitely scented) was sent from China in 

 1807 by William Kerr, and the yellow-flowered variety 

 was sent in 1824. This rose likes a chalk soil and a warm 

 wall. Everyone has remarked how wonderfully this rose 

 has bloomed this year (1930), for the continuous baking 

 sun of last summer ripened the wood as it is seldom 

 ripened in this country. William Paul mentions a Banksian 

 rose growing in the Jardin de la Marine at Toulon. 

 ' In 1842 the trunk was 2 feet 4 inches in circumference 

 at its base. Its branches covered a wall 75 feet broad 

 and 1 5 to 18 feet high ; and were there greater space it 

 could be covered, for the tree is subjected to severe 

 pruning every alternate year to keep it within bounds. 

 At the time that it is in full blossom it is calculated that 

 there cannot be less than from 50,000 to 60,000 flowers 



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