THE BRIER ROSES 23 



pink colour, and is conspicuous among other kinds for 

 remaining some time in a globular or half-opened 

 shape. The leaves are of a bluish tint, and the scent is 

 stronger and sweeter than that of any other. 



The Scotch Briers are excellent plants for many 

 kinds of use, but are perhaps best of all in wild banks 

 with Heaths and Cistuses. No bushy thing is better 

 for the capping of a dry wall, for it will hang over and 

 also throw out runners between the stones and show 

 itself off quite at its best. These fine hardy Briers 

 have also one merit that most Roses lack, for in winter 

 the leafless crowd of close-growing, plentifully-prickled 

 branches forms masses of warm bronze colouring that 

 have quite a comforting appearance. The pretty Briers 

 might well replace the dull and generally ugly steep 

 slopes of turf that disfigure so many gardens. They 

 are charming accompaniments to steps and their low 

 balustrades ; they are equally in place in the humblest 

 garden and the most exalted, and in all sorts and kinds 

 of places and for all kinds of uses they hardly ever 

 come amiss. 



They are also distinctly in place crowning the upper 

 portions of bold rockwork ; in fact this way of having 

 them is one of the very best, for they love free air 

 and unstinted light, and their neat bushy forms and 

 crowded wreaths of bloom are never seen to better 

 advantage than when viewed a little from below. 



The Scotch Briers are derived from the native 

 Burnet Rose (R. spinosissima), and are amongst the 

 hardiest and most accommodating of their race. Even 

 in the poorest soils they will grow ffeely if only they 



