i8 



Garden and Forest. 



[Vol. IV., No. 151. 



Cultural Department. 



Notes on Some Hardy Wild Roses. 



-II. 



Rosa blanda is a very hardy Wild Rose, belonging to the 

 Cinnamon Rose group, which is found more or less com- 

 monly throughout the north-eastern part of North America. 

 The type is a dwarf plant, rarely growing more than three feet 

 in height, and probably hardly averaging over two feet, and it 

 is particularly distinguished by having its stems wholly un- 

 armed or bearing very few prickles. The leaflets are usually 

 large, and the flowers, which appear a week or ten days later 

 than those of Rosa acicularis, are also above the average in 

 size, fragrant and of a bright rosy color, and often borne 

 singly. The large, roundish, dark-red colored fruit, with per- 

 sistent sepals, is often brightly conspicuous as it hangs just 

 above the snow along road-sides in its native habitat, notably 

 in the valley of the St. Lawrence River. In its natural haunts 

 it seems to prefer rich rocky soils. 



Little seems to have been done to improve this plant from 

 the gardener's point of view, but on account of its large 

 blossoms and unarmed habit it may be made a parent of some 

 useful hybrids. As this species extends westward it seems to 

 become more variable, several varietal and specific names 

 having been given, which are considered as simply forms or 

 varieties of Rosa blanda by other authors. Some of these 

 plants are characterized by having more numerous flowers, in 

 corymbose clusters, and by their prickly stems. 



Rosa Nutkana, a native of the Rocky Mountain region and 

 the Pacific slope from northern Utah to Alaska, appears in cul- 

 tivation at the Arboretum as an exceedingly strong, stout- 

 stemmed species, growing from six to eight feet in height. 

 The stems bear a few strong recurved spines, which are often 

 very broad at the base, so that they are almost triangular in 

 shape. On many plants there are few or no prickles, and the 

 flowering branchlets are perfectly smooth. The first flowers 

 appear at about the same time as those of the last species. 

 They are usually solitary, and average about two inches or 

 more in diameter, and are of a delicate pale, pinkish red 

 color. 



The erect habit of this species, its thick, clean stems, which 

 attain a height of three or four feet without branching, and its 

 comparative freedom from spines, may make it a desirable 

 plant to form tree-like or standard bushes upon which to bud 

 or graft other garden varieties, as is often practiced upon the 

 Dog Rose in Europe. Rosa Nutkana does not spread from 

 suckers, and it is perfectly hardy in this latitude. 



What has been classed as Rosa pisocarpa, a species from Cali- 

 fornia and the Pacific coast region, appears very variable in 

 habit under cultivation. Sometimes the plants are moderately 

 tall and bushy, while others have stems as high as those of R. 

 Nutkana, but not so. coarse and stout. The spines are more 

 abundant, though very much smaller, and prickles are numer- 

 ous. The flowers are not so large, and are usually of a much 

 deeper color than those of R. Nutkana, and the fruit is small 

 and globose. There is some confusion as to the limitations 

 of R. pisocarpa, as well as of a number of other western species 

 of Rose which are too little known by botanists and in cultiva- 

 tion to give any idea of their value. 



Rosa gymnocarpa, whose habitat is also the western side of 

 the continent, is a slender, sometimes long stemmed, species, 

 which, although it lives through our winters, does not yet ap- 

 pear to be sufficiently vigorous and enduring to be very satis- 

 factory here. The flowers are rather small, of the usual pale 

 rose color, though forms with white flowers are found. It 

 seems to be more closely allied to the Asiatic R. Beggeriana 

 than to any other species in cultivation. 



Rosa rugosa also belongs to the Cinnamon group of Roses, 

 with one or more species of which it appears in gardens to 

 have exchanged pollen, which has produced forms intermedi- 

 ate between the two parents. Some of these have been sold 

 as Rosa rugosa, a fact which is to be regretted, because these 

 plants are generally much inferior and less beautiful in foliage 

 and flower than the typical species. R. rugosa and its white 

 variety easily rank among the most beautiful of the very 

 hardy Roses in cultivation ; and, either for its thick glossy 

 foliage, or on account of its flowers, which, under good culti- 

 vation, expand four or even five inches across, or for the sake 

 of its large rich red fruit of late summer and autumn, it is a 

 desideratum for any garden. It is one of the hardiest species, 

 and will stand twenty-five degrees or more below zero without 

 any apparent injury. It may be called a perpetual blooming 

 Rose, for although it has only one regular period of profuse 

 flowering, it continues to bear blossoms as freely as a Hybrid 

 Perpetual until checked by frosts. This species is now being 



used in hybridizing with others in the hope of obtaining even 

 better Roses than any we now have. 



So far, the double flowered forms have, as a rule, proved 

 less interesting than the single blossomed type. There is 

 much variation in the depth of color of the flowers of different 

 plants, those having the deepest purplish red blossoms being 

 the best. The white form is very desirable. The prickly charac- 

 ter of the whole plant is objectionable, but it is exceeded by the 

 dense and formidable covering of prickles which protect the 

 stems of R. Kamtschatica, a species closely resembling R. 

 rugosa and possibly only a variety of it. 



It has been stated by some writers that the thick, rugged, 

 dark green foliage of Rosa rugosa was not liable to attack by 

 the usual Rose-injuring insects. This is not the case, how- 

 ever, for the Rose-slug (Selandria rosce), the Leg-Hopper 

 (Typhlocyba rosce) and other insects sometimes attack it quite 

 freely, but the thick, leathery character of the foliage serves to 

 make equally serious invasions less noticeable than in other 

 thinner leaved species. The flower-buds of this, and some 

 other wild Roses in the Arboretum, are often destroyed by a 

 well known and widely distributed red-colored snout-beetle 

 (R/iync/iites blcolor), which eats holes into the buds, and whose 

 larvae live within and destroy the fruit. _, 



Arnold Arboretum. J. Lr. Jack. 



Winter Pears for Market. 



'THE Anjou pear I regard as the queen of winter pears for 

 *■ the table. It possesses all the virtues of a perfect pear, 

 being rich, vinous and melting, with keeping qualities not ex- 

 celled by any pear of its season. It is large, of pleasing shape, 

 fragrant, and when fully ripe of a warm straw color. Coming 

 into market when all fall pears are gone, it may be kept from 

 November until March. As a market fruit it is always in ready 

 demand wherever known, and brings the highest price, $5 to 

 $6 per bushel for fine selected fruit. The tree is hardy, vigor- 

 ous, not subject to blight, does not overbear, and hence re- 

 quires little thinning, while few inferior fruits are seen on the 

 tree. 



Anjou does well as a standard or a dwarf. It should be 

 planted in well-prepared, rich, dry ground and kept under the 

 best cultivation, enriching it every year alternately with a mod- 

 erate dressing of well decomposed stable manure and hard- 

 wood ashes. A thin sprinkling of salt during winter is also 

 beneficial. Pruning is very important to keep up the vigor 

 and health of dwarf trees and also to prevent overbearing. 

 Dwarf trees that have been maintained under proper culti- 

 vation, and have been properly pruned, may be seen pro- 

 ducing excellent crops of fine fruit after a half century of 

 existence. Most of the dwarf Pear-orchards throughout west- 

 ern New York are neglected in most, if not in all the above 

 requirements, and therefore their lease of life is short and un- 

 satisfactory. 



The Winter Nelis is one of the finest winter pears, and a great 

 favorite in eastern markets. The fruit is of medium size, melt- 

 ing, and possesses a rich aromatic flavor. For a dessert pear 

 in respect to size, color and quality it has no superior among 

 winter varieties. Its season is from December to March. 

 Winter Nelis should be grown on Pear stock, or double- worked 

 on dwarf stock, White Doyenne being the best tree for double 

 working. A slender grower, in order to obtain bearing trees 

 within a few years, it should be top-grafted on good-sized, vig- 

 orous trees. It often overbears, and requires thinning, other- 

 wise the fruits prove inferior in size and quality. Indeed, too 

 much stress cannot be laid upon the necessity of thinning, not 

 only with pears, but with all other kinds of fruit. 



By all who have tasted the Josephine de Malines when well 

 grown and ripened this will be pronounced one of the very 

 best late-winter pears. The fruit is medium to large, the pink 

 or salmon-stained white flesh, melting and of a delicious rose 

 aroma. This succeeds either as a standard or dwarf. Its sea- 

 son is from January to April. Owing to its moderate, irregular 

 growth, it is little propagated in nurseries, and on this account 

 is not much disseminated. 



Lawrence, largely grown in some sections of our state, is 

 held in high esteem by those who prefer sweet pears. The 

 fruit is medium to large, melting and of pleasant flavor. Its 

 season is from December to January. The tree is a moderate 

 grower and very productive. 



Clairgeau is the largest and most attractive early winter 

 pear in cultivation, and always commands the highest price. 

 The fruit is very large, pyriform, yellow and red, with its red 

 cheek usually very highly colored, nearly melting, and keeps 

 till January, the tree being a good grower and an abundant 

 bearer. This is a very valuable market pear. 



