TEA-SCENTED ROSES. 



305 



-withal they are the freest bloomers into the bargain ; their blooms 

 are the most graceful in form and the most delicate in colouring 

 of all Roses, and in the cut state they last three times as 

 long as the flowers of the Hybrid Perpetuals ; so that they 

 are the most valuable and deservedly the most highly esteemed 

 -wherever Roses are required for vases, for bouquets, and for 

 button-holes, and that not only in summer, but all the year 

 round, for the Teas are also far the best as well as the 

 ■easiest Roses to force. Flowers may be had without difficulty 

 under glass until May, and by that time plants in sunny 

 situations on walls or fences out-of-doors will be coming into 

 bloom, while from June until cut off by autumn frosts the 

 plants in the open will keep up the supply. There is another 

 good point about the Tea-scented Roses, in that the flowers 

 produced upon plants that have been transplanted the previous 

 autumn are frequently as good as the blooms carried on established 

 plants ; in fact, plants of Tea Roses seem to feel removal much 

 less than Hybrid Perpetuals — their recuperative power being 

 unquestionably greater ; so that quite old plants of Tea Roses 

 may be transplanted with good results. This is the more 

 fortunate as it is rarely possible to obtain very large blooms 

 of Teas (such as are seen at exhibitions) except on plants 

 of a certain age ; for unlike many of the Hybrid Perpetuals, 

 whose maiden bloom is so often the most beautiful they ever 

 produce, the maiden blooms of the Teas are hardly ever at all 

 tine. 



Admirers of these lovely Roses, however, who have not as yet 

 cultivated them very much, will not be likely to begin by troubling 

 about " maidens " ; and upon such intending cultivators I would 

 strongly urge the desirability of growing as many plants as may 

 be, but not too many varieties to begin with. Having decided 

 on the space to be devoted to Teas, and the number of plants 

 required to fill it, the next step is to divide that number by six 

 or twelve, to find the number of varieties needed. Even if the 

 available space were so limited that there were only room for 

 eighteen plants, it would be found that three plants of each of 

 six varieties would afford far greater satisfaction than a bed of 

 eighteen distinct varieties; and if there were room for more 

 plants, six, or even twelve, of each variety will give infinitely 

 more pleasure, and be far more generally useful, than a large 



