118 THE ROOK OF THE ROSE chap. 



chosen for the H.P.s, for as a general rule quite as 

 good blooms and a better general appearance, with 

 less cost and trouble, can be obtained from dwarfs. 

 La France, Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, and some of 

 the H.T.s must be taken as exceptions. Let the 

 strongest-growing Tea Eoses also be grown as 

 dwarfs, if a bed of beautiful Eoses be desired rather 

 than extra fine blooms, or if the locality be liable to 

 severe frost ; but for exhibition purposes, or in any 

 case where the quality of the flowers is the principal 

 object, they should be grown as standards, if it be 

 found practicable to keep them alive during the 

 winter. 



The next question, and it has long been a keenly 

 debated one among Eosarians, is, which of the three 

 dwarf stocks, briar cutting, briar seedling, or manetti 

 cutting, is the best for purchased plants. The voice 

 of the majority in the Eose world, with which I 

 thoroughly agree, places the value of these stocks for 

 permanent plants in the order named above. The 

 advantages of the briar cutting are that it makes the 

 finest permanent plants, that, taken all round, it 

 gives the best blooms, and that its tendency to 

 comparatively shallow roots makes it the most 

 amenable to good cultivation. Its only disadvantages 

 are that it is not quite so early in blooming as 

 plants on the manetti stock, and that its want of 

 deep roots prevents its being able to stand neglect as 

 well as those on the briar seedling. This is, however, 

 a poor advantage to claim for the briar seedling, as 

 the growth from the deep roots will not be so 

 satisfactory or free-flowing. Even if the tap-roots 

 are taken off, the plants are generally somewhat 

 inferior to those on the cutting, and are the latest 



