^6 



CA«SELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



and stiff, or trailing, or arcHng, or scandent. Wlien 

 they take the form of " suckers," which are branches 

 proceeding from the underground stock, they are not 

 regarded with favour- by gardeners. Most often the 

 Rose-shoots are covered more or less with woody 

 prickles of variable size and appearance. These enable 

 the Rose, in a wild state, to push its way between 

 other competing shrubs, and to support its branches 

 and expose its leaves to light and air at the expense 

 of its neighbours, and with a proportionately small 

 expenditure of force or tissue on its own part. The 

 prickles are often curved, with the points down- 

 ward. In this way fewer obstacles are offered to 

 their upward passage among competing branches, 

 while the hooked form insures a firmer hold, and 

 prevents the branches being dislodged. The form 

 and arrangement of the prickles furnish most valu- 

 able means to the cultivator for the discrimination 

 between different varieties when other marks of dis- 

 tinction are not available. These prickles are super- 

 ficial outgrowths from the rind, not to be confounded 

 with spines, such as one sees on the hawthorn 

 {Crataegus), which are true branches, though in an 

 abortive condition. Other superficial outgrowths 

 from the skin of the stem or the leaves are glandular 

 hairs of various kinds, which contribute to the per- 

 fume of the plant, as in the Sweet-briar,' and serve 

 as a means of discrimination between different 

 varieties. 



The Leaves. — The manifold variations in the 

 appearance of the leaves scarcely need more than the 

 mere mention. An idea of their extreme variability 

 may be gained by comparing the simple leaves of 

 it. berherifolia, the glossy leaves of the Macartney 

 Rose [R. bracteata), the rough leaves of the Japanese 

 Rose [R. rugosa), with the leaves of the Sweet-briar, 

 or of the common Moss-rose. Size, form, colour, 

 nature of the pubescence of the leaf as a whole, form 

 and degree of toothing of its margins, are all points 

 to which the attention of the Rose-grower must be 

 drawn. 



Inflorescence. — By " iaflorescence " botanists 

 mean the arrangement or grouping of the flowers on 

 the stem or branches, and in the case of the Rose 

 this is of great importance from a cultivator's 

 point of view. First of all, there is the fact that 

 the branch or branches which immediately support 

 the flower are always " terminal." That is, they 

 are at the end of the shoot, and are not developed 

 from the sides, in the axils of the leaves, nor from 

 thickened spurs, as in pears or apples. Then the 

 flower-buds of the nascent inflorescence are always 

 formed on the wood of the year. In the apple, or 

 pear, or peach, the flower-buds are formed in the 



summer or autumn of the year preceding that in 

 which they are to unfold ; but in the Rose, the flower- 

 buds are formed in the same season as that in which 

 they expand, and, as we have said, at the ends of 

 the branches — points which the pruner needs to 

 heed. The cultivator, too, will note that the work 

 which a Rose has to do must be done very rapidly ; 

 and, moreover, that it is done more or less con- 

 tinuously till stopped by the advent of frost in 

 autumn. The necessity for shelter, an adeqiiate food- 

 supply, and an ample quantity of water during the 

 growing season to obviate any check to gro^i;h as far 

 as possible, is thus rendered obvious. 



The distinction between those Roses whose flowers 

 are borne singly, and those which are in trusses or 

 clusters, is ob^■iously a matter of great practical 

 moment, but botanically the difference is slight, being 

 only one of degree. The inflorescence of Roses, in 

 fact, comes under the category of " definite " in- 

 florescences, so called because the flower deflnes, or 

 jDuts a stop to the extension of the stem in that 

 particular direction, any subsequent gi-owth starting 

 from below the first and, of course, at an angle with 

 it. Thus, if in a truss there are three flowers — a 

 common caSe — then the central one is the oldest and 

 flrst-foi-med, and the side ones are formed sub- 

 sequently, belonging, as botanists say, to a different 

 "generation." 



When there is but one flower, that arises from the 

 fact that the side ones are not developed, but the 

 spot from which they should spring is generally indi- 

 cated by a joint, or sometimes by a leafy scale. By 

 suppressing or pinching the side-buds the grower 

 often has it in his power to bring about increased size 

 and colour of the flower, while by suppressing the 

 terminal bud he can, as it were, postpone and prolong 

 the blooming season. ^Taat are called Perpetual 

 Roses {Roses remordants of the French) are Roses in 

 which new inflorescences are produced in succession 

 throughout the season ; and a minor degree of the 

 same phenomenon is brought about by the difference 

 in the time of expansion of the first or terminal 

 flower-buds as contrasted with th-e lateral ones. 



The Parts of the Flower.— The cah-x of the 

 Rose consists always of five sepals, var^-ing greatly 

 in appearance in different cases, but always spring- 

 ing from the top of the hip in which the seed- 

 vessels are concealed. The five' sepals are not 

 formed all at the same time, but in succession, and 

 this sequence remains obvious even in the fully- 

 developed flower-bud, by the manner in which the 

 sepals overlap one another, and often by their 

 appearance. Thus there are two placed out- 

 side, two within the bud, and one half in, half 

 out. The appearance of the sepals in these cases 



