HOW TO ENJOY THE WILD ROSE. 



can be grouped on poor rough banks ; 

 by rides in shrubberies here and there, 

 and in orchard fences. In many woods 

 there are enough wild Roses already, 

 but the American and other Roses de- 

 serve a distinct and separate place. For 

 all such bold use of the wild Rose it is 

 absolutely necessary to get kinds raised 

 from seed or from cuttings, or any way 

 but the evil art of grafting ; as if the 

 more beautiful kinds are much in de- 

 mand the temptation will be to graft 

 them on the common brier, which 

 would, of course, kill all the others in 

 time, and we should have what we have 

 already, perhaps, too many Dog Roses. 



As these Roses in many cases root from 

 the shoot like the Japanese Rose, and 

 as nearly all bear seed very freely, there 

 should be no difficulty in getting plants 

 on their natural roots, and anything else 

 should not be accepted as a gift. Some 

 wild Roses, like the Marsh Rose, are 

 excellent waterside plants, and may be 

 grouped with fine effect near lakes or 

 I by streams, and in places where — even if 

 I we had the time or will to do anything 

 I so needless — it would be impossible to 

 ■ dig up the suckers of Dog Roses, as the 

 more vigorous wild Roses got entangled 

 among Willows, Dogwoods and other 

 j strong growing things of the waterside. 



W. THOMPSON, OF IPSWICH. 



We regret to announce the death, at the age of 

 80 years, of one of the most active workers 

 among hardy plants in England, William 

 Thompson, of Ipswich, long known for his in- 

 teresting catalogues of hardy flowers, enriched 

 often by new plants of real beauty. He was a 

 man of goodeducation,whobeganlife studying 

 photography and chemistry, but gradually his 

 love of plants led him to go into the work as 

 a business, at first with but moderate success. 

 Little by little he began the exchange and 

 sale of rare seeds of hardy plants, and he pub- 

 lished his first catalogue in 1855 — a very slim 

 one. Through correspondents in all parts of 

 the world he was enabled to introduce to gar- 

 dens a number of new plants, his first suc- 

 cess being with Rhodanthe maculata, intro- 

 duced from Western Australia. After that, the 

 flower that brought him most note was the 

 beautiful Aquilegia ccerulea. He introduced 

 Godetia Whitney i and Leptosiphon roseus in 1 87 1 , 

 and the lovely Phacelia companularia from 

 California in 1885. As an illustration of the 

 esteem in which he was held, it will be in- 

 teresting to quote a dedication by Sir Joseph 



Hooker : "Vol. 32 of third series, 1876. — 

 This volume of the Botanical Magazine is 

 dedicated to Mr. William Thompson, of Ips- 

 wich — to whose zeal in introducing and intel- 

 ligent skill in raising hardy American plants, 

 and especially those of the Western United 

 States, European gardeners in general, and the 

 Botanical Magazine in particular, are indebted 

 for many most interesting and ornamental 

 novelties — by his faithful friend, Joseph D. 

 Hooker, Royal Gardens, Kew, December 1 st." 

 Mr. Thompson's friends included such men as 

 Charles Darwin and Asa Gray. Mr. Thomp- 

 son edited a monthly magazine called The Eng- 

 lish Flower Garden, which began in 1852-3. 

 It was illustrated by coloured drawings. In 

 1855 he published "The Gardening Book of 

 Annuals." This was followed in the next year 

 by a supplement, and a year or two ago — as 

 the work had gone out of print — he was 

 pressed to bring out a fresh edition, and he 

 had sketched out and done some work towards 

 a new one, which we hope his successors will 

 issue in due time, as no one in Britain knew 

 annual flowers so well. 



