THE ROSE AND ITS CULTURE. 



363 



from base to summit. They may taper very slightly 

 towai-ds a poiat at the top, but if they taper much 

 they simply merge into pyramids. 



They may vary in height from six to ten or even 

 twelve feet. Pillars under six feet are hardly worth 

 setting up ; they lose stateliness and dignity, the 

 chief merits of Roses of this character and form. 

 Nine feet is a capital height for this class of Rose, 

 and nine to eighteen yards apart is close enough 

 to plant them. 

 They look well in 

 single, and better 

 Btill in double lines 

 ■ — one on each side 

 of a main walk 

 or road. For the 

 latter, twelve feet 

 in height would 

 not be excessive, 

 provided they 

 could be grown 

 tolerably uniform 

 to that height. 



Few things, how- 

 ever, savour more 

 of ambitious pre- 

 tence, indifferent 

 culture, or lack of 

 knowledge than 

 the sight of un- 

 clothed pillars of 

 iron or wood with 

 Roses struggling 

 in vain to reach 

 their summits. 

 Better far than 

 such sights as 

 these, which are 

 all too common, 

 would it be to cut 



down the pUlars to match the growing powers or 

 climbing capacities of the Roses. 



Pyramidal Eoses. — These are seldom so lofty 

 as those grown as piUars, though there is no reason 

 in their form for any reduction of height ; on the 

 contrary, their greater breadth of base would give 

 greater real and apparent stability to an increased 

 height of stem. They differ chiefly from piUar 

 Roses in their greater breadth at bottom and more 

 regular tapering from base to summit. Those not 

 familiar with pyramidal Roses or other trees can 

 hardly do better than choose for a model a sugar- 

 loaf enlarged in size to any desired extent. 



Pyramidal Roses seem rather to have gone out of 

 fashion, chiefly on account of the craze for perfec- 

 47 



tion of bloom in Roses, chiefly or only. Neither 

 the form nor the best mode of clothing pyra- 

 midal Roses with a. maximum amount of beauty? 

 by clothing them from base to summit with Roses, 

 favours mere size of single blooms. But thus 

 clothed and marshalled in rows on either side of 

 main walks, or planted singly or in groups in any 

 part of the garden or pleasure-grounds, each pyra- 

 mid becomes a show in itself, compared with 



which the most 

 brilliant display of 

 Roses in boxes be- 

 comes stiff and 

 even poor. 



Pyramidal Roses 

 are perhaps most 

 effective in double 

 lines, twelve or 

 eighteen feet apart 

 in the rows, with a 

 space of eighteen, 

 twenty - four, 

 thirty, or thirt)'- 

 six feet between 

 the rows. This 

 distance affords 

 room for a gravel 

 walk between, and, 

 if on turf, affords 

 ample space for a 

 delightful prome- 

 nade, from which 

 the Roses may be 

 seen and enjoyed 

 in all their richness 

 of floral grandeur. 

 As to the varie- 

 ties to plant for 

 running up into 

 pOlars or spread- 

 ing out into pyramids, the more hardy Noisettes 

 and proliferous Ayrshire and Evergreen Roses 

 are among the best. The often-named Gloire de 

 Dijon and Gloire de Bordeaux form admirable 

 pyramids. Most of the free-growing Teas would 

 do almost equally well in warm localities and 

 sheltered places, while the Hybrid Chinas, Coupe 

 d'Hebe, Chenodole, Charles Lawson, Paul Yerdier, 

 Vivid, and Madame Plantier are as well adapted for 

 pillars as for pyramids. Cheshunt Hybrid grows so 

 rapidly and blooms so freely that it is equally well 

 adapted for pillar or pyramid, and every addition to 

 this class of hardy Hybrid Teas will be eagerly wel- 

 comed for these purposes. But the more vigorous 

 and floriferous Hybrid Perpetual Roses are also ad- 

 mirably fitted for moulding into pyramidal shapes ; 



