NATIONAL ROSE CONFERENCE. 



229 



AUSTEALIAN ROSES. 

 On behalf of Mr. J. Paterson, of Tamworth, New South Wales, 

 a photograph of a Cloth of Gold rose, showing its luxuriant 

 growth and profusion of bloom, was exhibited. Mr. Paterson 

 states that the rose in question begins to flower in October, and 

 lasts about six weeks, the individual flowers being of great size. 

 Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller also states in a letter to the 

 Secretary that near Melbourne this variety flowers for four 

 months out of the twelve. Tea-roses are generally preferred 

 in Victoria, as they remain longest in flower and are less subject 

 to the attacks of Aphis and other parasites than are other roses. 

 Roses do not vary much in character, but in this winterless 

 zone, writes the Baron, " we can greatly extend the duration of 

 flowering by pruning at different times. Forcing is not resorted 

 to here ; indeed, some roses, like Souvenir de la Malmaison, are 

 rarely without a flower the whole year round. Mr. French has 

 just mentioned to me that he had on a standard (four years old) 

 two hundred and thirty-six flowers of Marshal Niel, most of 

 them open at the same time." 



NEW INDIAN ROSES. 

 Dr. George King, the Director of the Royal Botanic Garden, 

 Calcutta, sent for exhibition dried specimens of Bosa gigantea, 

 B. Colletti, and B. involucrata. The greatest horticultural interest 

 centres in the first-named, a Burmese species discovered by 

 General Collett. It is a rose of the indica type with single 

 white flowers measuring as much as six inches in diameter. A 

 figure of this splendid rose is given in the Gardeners' Chronicle 

 July 6, 1889, p. 13, and seeds kindly supplied by Dr. King have 

 been distributed among various rosarians. Some were sown at 

 Chiswick, while at Kew seedlings have been raised from seed 

 also sent by Dr. King. From the locality in which it is in- 

 digenous, it is hardly likely that it will prove hardy in this 

 country, though it will probably succeed in an ordinary rose 

 house. 



Discussion. 



Sir Dietrich Brandis, K.C.I.E., said it was gratifying to 

 see that the group which stood second on Mr. Baker's classifica- 

 tion — Synstylce — had stood the test of time, that botanists had not 

 thrust it aside. He did not know whether that small German 

 rose with tender white petals — the Bosa arvensis — received 



