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CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



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ROSE NOTES. 



BT THE HON. 



r, NEW EDINBURGH. 



(Concluded frotn April number.) 



HER MAJESTY, whicli created 

 such a sensation in the rose 

 world some years ago, seems, from all 



accounts, never to have bloomed in 

 Canada. I have one bush that came 

 from England two years ago. It has 

 grown vigorously from the first, and 

 last summer it blossomed. The bud 

 was very much larger than the buds 

 in the colored picture with which 

 we are all familiar, in fact it was 

 so much larger than any rosebud 

 I have ever seen, that a perfectly true 

 description of it would be quite incre- 

 dible. Hundreds of people came to see 

 the marvel, and the rose itself proved 

 quite in keeping with the bud, the beau- 

 tiful reddish tea foliage making a 

 lovely finish to the spray when in its full 

 beauty. But the mildew ! worse, even, 

 than the Giant de Battailles. It yet 

 remains to be seen whether this per- 

 fectly peerless rose can be grown in a 

 wholesome condition. If not Mr. 

 Evans, of Philadelphia, who paid so 

 much for a monopoly of Her Majesty, 

 will have more greatness in his posses- 

 sion than may be to his benefit. 



Merveille de Lyons (that splendid, 

 iiuge, hardy, perpetual, perfect, white 

 rose), has now been quite long enough 

 in cultivation to be more generally 

 known than it appears to be in Canada, 

 and the roses that our grandmothers 

 grew, and which can never be other 

 than lovely, are still enumerated among 

 the suitable roses for us to grow, — of 

 course they are, but we all know that, 



and now we are asking for the results 

 of experience as to the most reliable 

 of the newer varieties. George Paul, 

 Ellwanger and Barry, Peter Hender- 

 son all give lists which no collection 

 should fail to contain. These lists all 

 difl^er somewhat, but all agree that 

 Charles Lefebre, the large, fragrant, 

 dark velvet vigorous rose is the grand- 

 est of roses, and that everyone should 

 have all that Baroness Rothschild 

 sisterhood, its members being Mabel 

 Morrison, White Baroness, Merveille 

 de Lyons, Baroness de Rothschild, 

 Mme. Massicault and Baroness Nath- 

 aniel de Rothschild. Also that La 

 France must be included, and Alfred 

 Colomb, and Capt Cliristy and Pierre 

 Netting and Magna Charta and — 

 but what is the use of enumerating 

 lovely and inviting varieties on which 

 we might wish to try our skill, when 

 the nurserymen have combined against 

 us ; and it is simply impos.sible to know 

 what rose you have until it blooms. The 

 fact that you ordei- Louis von Houtte, 

 and that the rose you get is labelled 

 Louis von Houtte is of no importance 

 whatever, for, is not Louis von Houtte 

 a diflicult rose to grow and to propagate, 

 and does not the bloom of a Jacqueminot 

 correspond to the printed description 

 of a Louis von Houtte; and if you don't 

 known the diiTerence you will be highly 

 pleased at your own success in growing 

 a rose which all authorities pronounce 

 a difficult floricultural task, and so both 

 you and the nurseryman are benefited. 



