22 



SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



even Mr. Rivers himself says, " As a Pillar Rose, it will form a splendid 

 object." The White Bourbon, which the French cultivators are at 

 war about, "some swearing," as Mr. Rivers tells us, "by all their 

 saints that it is a veritable Bourbon, while others as strongly maintain 

 that it is a Noisette ;" and from its clustered flowers the latter are 

 nearest right. But all this arises from the multiplication of families. 







China Hoses. 



Everybody knows the Pale China and the Dark China Roses, which 

 may be seen decorating the cottages of our industrious classes as well 

 as the gardens of the rich. They were, however, Bengal Roses, and 

 not natives of China. Now the distinguishing characteristic of the 

 Bengal, or, as now called, China Rose, is smooth bark, with the thorns 

 distant from each other ; shining leaves, and constant growing and 

 blooming. These features could be well understood by everybody ; 

 but everything that can be at all traced to have any one of these fea- 

 tures, and cannot be easily placed in other families, must come to this j 

 and so we have plenty, and a most beautiful family it is. 



Tea-scented China Roses. 



This is an acknowledged variation of the Bengal, or, as the rose 

 dealers will have it, China Rose ; but it is a true China, imported into 

 England from that empire in 1810. It is said to have been the parent 

 of this large family ; but here we have the same difficulty that pre- 

 sents itself in other families there is no place to draw the line ; they 

 are China Roses, and only China Roses, but they are stronger scented 

 than the Bengal, called Common China, and it is difficult to detect the 

 difference between the highest perfumed of the former class and the 

 lowest perfumed of the China Tea Roses, as now classed. 



Miniature Roses. 



This family is also said to be China, possessing all the marked fea- 

 tures ; but it is smaller than the others, and is acknowledged by Mr. 

 Rivers to be only a dwarf variety of the Common China, or, as we 

 insist, Bengal. It is worthy of remark, that all those so-called China 

 Roses have the characteristics we have mentioned, the constant grow- 



