270 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE chap. 



especially to those who had hazy ideas of what 

 colour "amaranth" is. The word means "fade- 

 less" or "everlasting," and seems to have been 

 applied to the cockscomb family of flowers because 

 of their lasting qualities. In describing a new 

 Eose of purplish crimson, the French raisers there- 

 fore called it " amaranthe," i.e. "cockscomb 

 colour," a fair description of the shade of Xavier 

 Ohbo. The blooms come divided sometimes, but 

 it is often a fine Eose, with centre sometimes 

 incurved and sometimes with a fine point : a good 

 lasting bloom, of full size. It will not answer 

 on poor soil, must be "liberally treated," and 

 from its weak growth is necessarily not good as a 

 free bloomer or autumnal, or suitable for general 

 cultivation. 



Hybrid Teas 



I have already (p. 26) endeavoured to show that, 

 in making a separate class of the Eoses that are 

 crossed with the Teas, difficulty is sure to arise 

 sooner or later in classifying varieties, which have 

 a predominance of the Tea strain, but yet some 

 slight strain from a distant cross with some other 

 race. But, in deference to the general opinion, I 

 have placed here those varieties which are generally 

 reckoned as Hybrid Teas. As it is, there are a 

 few that are not very easily distinguishable from 

 the Hybrid Perpetuals. Some of the very fi:nest 

 of all Eoses, such as La France and Mrs. W. J. 

 Grant, are to be found among them, and all colours, 

 though as yet yellow is only present in a few 

 instances. Its fast increasing popularity is shown 



