18 SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



Rose, are not of such robust and vigorous habits as when the China 

 Rose is the female parent." This looks like plain, straightforward 

 information ; but it is followed by the same incertitude as some of the 

 other distinguishing features of families. Mr. Eivers adds: "But, per- 

 haps, this is an opinion not borne out by facts ; for the exceptions are 

 numerous, and Hke many other variations in roses, and plants in gen- 

 eral, seems to hid defiance to systematic rules." Of course, they do ; 

 and, with the exception of those names which bespeak a distinct char- 

 acter, the spUtting of this beautiful flower into so many different fam- 

 ihes at all, was a very injudicious measure. Athelin, a Rose classed in 

 this group, is called also a Hybrid Bourbon, and as it blooms in clus- 

 ters, would have been much better understood if called a Noisette. 

 It comprises other roses as unhke each other as can be well imagined, 

 and many of them will shoot ten feet in a season, and would be much 

 more at home if classed as Chmbing Roses. Belle de Rosny, among 

 this family, is nevertheless called also a Hybrid Bourbon, and many 

 others of this family are destined to be removed, if the senseless dis- 

 tinctions by name are to be kept up. 



White Bosea. 



Here we have an illustration of the extreme folly of the present dis- 

 tinctions. We are told the roses of this division may be easily dis- 

 tinguished by their green shoots, and leaves of a glaucous green, 

 looking as if they were covered with a grayish impalpable powder ; 

 and flowers generally of the most delicate colors, graduating from a 

 pure white to a bright but deKcate pink. 



The Damask Hose. 



This is as incongruous a group as any. Blanche borde de rouge 

 has flowers sometimes a pure white, at others margined with red. 

 Claudine has flowers of a pale rose color. York and Lancaster, also 

 classed among them, has flowers striped with red and white. Coralie 

 is flesh color. Then we have Madame Hardy, which, we are fairly 

 told, "is not a pure Damask Rose;" perhaps not, as it is white, and 

 unlike all the rest. Then, there is the Duke of Cambridge, which Mr. 



