XII MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 293 



on the briar close to or under the ground, do not 

 flower so well as when budded on the same stock 

 a little higher — even eighteen inches will make 

 a great difference — but so it certainly is; and as 

 even short standards are much more difficult to 

 protect effectually in severe frost, this little piece 

 of bad manners is especially annoying to growers 

 in low districts. It cannot be called hardy or 

 of strong constitution, particularly free in bloom, 

 a good autumnal. Its colour is a very weak 

 point, for the light pink shade of the bud very 

 quickly fades, sometimes degenerating, when the 

 form of the bloom is still at its best, into a dull 

 and dirty sort of cream colour. In this matter 

 it has been quite surpassed by three of the sports 

 of the variety which have been issued. Bridesmaid, 

 The Bride, and Muriel Grahame. For show 

 purposes each of these is superior to the type 

 in colour. Catherine Mermet, much grown under 

 glass for market, going out of cultivation for other 

 purposes. 



Cleopatra (Bennett, 1889). — A poor grower, one 

 of the worst in this section. The wood is fairly 

 stiff, but often thin as well as short, and it is one 

 of the most difficult to propagate, as the buds are 

 small and scarce, and to get two or three often 

 involves sacrificing nearly the whole of the plant. 

 This is one of the type of Tea Eoses, of which 

 Princess Beatrice is another example, which grows 

 fairly well and fast in the spring, but makes no 

 secondary growth, much less bloom, worth mention- 

 ing. The flower buds are particularly long and 

 pointed, and if fair growth can be obtained they 

 open into grand blooms, retaining the fine point 



