THE GREATER ROSES, 



307 



fear that we have lost many of our finest 

 Tea Roses in this way. I do not divide 

 great Roses into classes, because there 

 is no need for it. It is the modern mania 

 for making classes when no real distinc- 

 tion exists, which leads our societies to 

 classify Roses into garden and exhibi- 

 tion kinds, as if Ma?~ie Van Houtte and 



whit more rational, for all are hybrids. 

 The following list is based upon many 

 plantings and may contain kinds not 

 good in all situations, but it embraces 

 the pick of all classes. The question 

 of culture comes afterwards and is a 

 serious one, because over much of our 

 country we have poor light soils, chalky 



ROSE " BESSIE BROWN." (Engraved for " Flora ' 



Anna Olivier, among the best of open- 

 air Roses, were not good enough to 

 take their place in any show, even with 

 their beautiful foliage cut off and set in 

 ranks like cabbages in a market stand. 

 Dividing one group into hybrids and 

 another into non-hybrids is not one 



from a bloom in Benjamin Cant's Nursery, Colchester.) 



often, and often too dry for the Briar, 

 i As the whole of the trade growers in 

 Europe propagate their Roses on the 

 wild Dog Briar we have to put up with 

 it, and as a result in many districts peo- 

 ple assume that they cannot grow good 

 Roses at all. 



y 3 



