Ti HISTORY AND CLASSIFICATION 19 



Britain, which has become semi-double and has at- 

 tained almost every shade from white to deep crimson 

 by long cultivation and selection of the easily raised 

 seedlings. The plant is unmistakable, for no other 

 Rose is so thickly covered with small very sharp thorns. 

 They are not strong in growth, and are best on 

 their own roots, propagated by suckers, like the 

 Austrians. Scotch Roses are generally used to form a 

 dwarf hedge, which has a pretty effect when the little 

 round fragrant flowers are out, but these are very soon 

 over. One perpetual form, however, has been raised — 

 the Stairwell, a fair grower, very sweet, flowering freely 

 from May to November. These Roses, as becomes 

 natives of North Britain, are thoroughly hardy, and 

 will flourish in the poorest soil where no other Rose will 

 grow. No pruning, beyond cutting out dead wood, is 

 required. 



The Sweet Briar (R. rubiginosa). — This is a native 

 briar, growing freely wild in some parts of England, 

 and generally where the soil is light and rather poor. 

 The Eglantine, as it is otherwise called, is noted for the 

 sweet scent of the foliage, which pervades the air for a 

 considerable distance after a shower, in spring or early 

 summer. There have been some cultivated varieties 

 more or less double and deeper or paler in colour than 

 the type, and Lord Penzance has been hybridising 

 them with the laudable view of raising a group of good 

 Roses with sweet foliage ; but though he has been 

 most successful in colour improvement, I believe that 

 nothing more than semi-double varieties have yet 

 been attained. 



The Ayrshire Rose (R. arvensis). This too, as its 

 name implies, is a native species, found also throughout 

 Europe. They have been well called running Roses, for 



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