KOSES FOR AUTUMN BLOOMS. 



479 



classes at Waltham Cross were as full of flower as in the height of 

 Slimmer, whilst the quality of the blooms was extraordinarily good. But, 

 making due allowance for these especially favourable climatic conditions, 

 we are certainly much better off in respect of autumn- blooming Roses 

 than we were twenty years ago, and 1 think the time has come for June 

 to share with September her proud pre-eminence as the " month of 

 Roses," and that there will not be wanting poets of the future who will 

 sing the charms of the Roses of the autumn, those chaste and richly-hued 

 blossoms which so gratefully prolong the season of the queen of flowers, 

 and maintain the garden gay with their soft and glowing colours until 

 the icy hand of winter finally closes in upon us. 



As indicating the large measure in which we are indebted to the Chinese 

 Rose for the best autumnals o)' to-day, it may be remembered that, in 

 addition to the many beautiful varieties of the original type that we 

 possess, the Tea-scented Rose and its varieties {B. indica odorata) are a 

 group of the same species, whilst to the union of the Tea Rose with the 

 Hybrid Perpetuals (and perhaps a few varieties of other species) we owe 

 the comparatively recent class of Hybrid Teas which are so deservedly 

 popular. Again the Musk Rose crossed with the Chinese (their progeny 

 in some cases again crossed with the Tea Rose) has given us the lovely 

 cluster-flowered Noisette Roses ; the Chinese Rose crossed with the ' Four 

 Seasons ' or Damask Perpetual has given us the Bourbon Roses which 

 were so popular fifty years ago, and which still furnish some excellent 

 autumnals, whilst the beautiful Dwarf Polyantha Roses so valuable for 

 massing and for edgings in the autumn Rose garden are supposed to owe 

 their origin to the crossing of the Chinese or Tea Roses, with the stronger 

 growing summer-flowering Multiflora Roses. Even in some of the best 

 autumn-blooming Hybrid Perpetuals it is not difficult to imagine traces 

 of Chinese or Bourbon blood either directly or through the Damask 

 Perpetuals. The earlier varieties of the Tea-scented Rose were no doubt 

 too delicate for general planting out of doors, but of late years, thanks to 

 judicious cross-breeding and selection, a great improvement in this 

 respect has taken place, and, although some of the more recent intro- 

 ductions may be lacking in the grace of habit and delicacy of perfume of 

 the earlier varieties, they more than make amends for decorative purposes 

 by their hardier constitution, their greater variety and richness of colour, 

 and their excessive freedom in blooming. 



Next to the Chinese Rose and its variations and descendants above 

 indicated, the most important class as autumnal bloomers are the Hybrid 

 Perpetuals. A few years ago the varieties of this class ranked very highly 

 among autumn Roses, but it must be admitted that they have been 

 somewhat eclipsed of late by the Teas and Hybrid Teas. As a class, 

 however, it is still justly held in high esteem for late flowering, for 

 although many of its varieties cannot be depended upon to give sufficient 

 flowers in autumn to produce any great effect in the garden, such 

 favourites as ' Alfred Colomb,' ' Ella Gordon,' ' Fisher Holmes,' ' Mrs. 

 John Laing,' and others are of great excellence. 



Among the minor classes of Roses, several of the Rugosa Roses are 

 good autumnals, and they are further valuable for their extreme hardiness. 

 They successfully withstand severe frost, and are often found to thrive 



