11 HISTORY AND CLASSIFICATION 17 



the moss-like covering of the calyx, has been so 

 popular that great efforts have been made to increase 

 the number of varieties and improve the quality of 

 the flov^ers. Mr. Cranston, writing in 1855, says 

 that even then several hundred varieties of the Moss 

 Eose had been raised, but though different colours, 

 from white to crimson, have been gained, and one 

 or two perpetual sorts have been issued, very little 

 success in the way of actual improvement has been 

 achieved, the common or old Moss Bose, to which 

 the N.E.S. Catalogue gives the date of 1596, being 

 still the best in the popular bud state. There are 

 now so many beautiful buttonhole Teas very much 

 superior in beauty of colour and shape, that it seems 

 likely that Moss Roses, which are only valuable in 

 the bud, not of long and pointed form, and 

 apparently incapable of improvement, will suffer 

 somewhat from their rivalry ; but many, no doubt, 

 will still be found to cherish them from sentiment 

 or old associations. 



The Moss Boses do not do well as standards, 

 and some of them are not very strong growers. 

 They will grow on manetti, but are generally con- 

 sidered to do best on their own roots, and should be 

 pruned hard, and highly cultivated. Some miniature 

 Moss Eoses have been issued, with prettily shaped 

 rosette-like flowers, one of the best of which is 

 Little Gem (W. Paul & Son, 1880). 



The Double Yellow Bose (E. sulphurea) is con- 

 sidered by some to be a form of the Provence. Fifty 

 or sixty years ago, this was the best yellow Bose, if 

 it could be got to bloom; but its "manners and 

 customs " were so very bad, and the blooms so 

 generally malformed or refusing to open at all, that 



c 



