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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the exhibitions and floral contests — the nurserymen must needs 

 supply the demand which is thus created in a public ever 

 hungry for novelties, and some of the old favourites must 

 necessarily stand aside to give elbow-room to these beautiful 

 swaggering strangers. 



To those who can find room in their sense of beauty for the 

 admiration of different forms of it, this loss of an entire race of 

 Hoses with their special characteristics is a real loss ; and unfor- 

 tunately they have other losses of a similar kind to deplore. 

 Once the race of Alba Roses, perfectly distinct from all others in 

 the glaucous colour of their foliage, and their delicate tints of 

 pink and white, of which the " Maiden's Blush " is pretty nearly 

 the only one now in cultivation, could boast of many varieties 

 and of many colours. This, however, was a long time ago. But 

 to come down to a much more modern period, what, may I ask, 

 has become of the " Perpetual Damasks," as they have always 

 been called in England, though in France, for some reason 

 which I have never been able to discover, they have always been 

 known as " Portlands " 2 



They were never a very numerous race, but Mr. Paul's book 

 in 1848 recorded at least eighty-four names. Now their place 

 knows them not ; and, unkindest cut of all, Mr. Paul in his last 

 edition, that of 18S8, ignores their existence as a separate family 

 altogether, and drafts the once celebrated " Rose du Roi," or 

 •• Lee's Perpetual " or 11 Crimson Perpetual,"' for it gloried in all 

 three names, into the class of " Hybrid Perpetuals." To many 

 people then- chief attraction, I dare say, was their scent, but 

 what a scent !— it is enough to say that it was that cf the 

 Eastern Attar of Roses. 



"While old races have thus been passing away — not varieties, 

 but distinct races, with flowers and a wood, a foliage, and a habit 

 of growth distinctively their own (I do not venture on botanical 

 terms, but speak only in popular language) — while old races 

 then are thus passing away, why is it that no new ones are 

 forthcoming ? 



How, it may be asked, is it possible that this should be 

 otherwise ? "Where are we to find a new race of Roses ? I 

 answer without hesitation, new races are to be found where the 

 " Noisette Rose " and the "Bourbon" Rose had their origin — 

 in the union of two of the existing races. New races without 



