GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



439 



Ros 



he***" 



with 



* ** X T\ nroduced by the long flower-laden branches, swayed by 

 ^ the effect prwiuce / urpr isingly beautiful that m visiting country 

 * ^'-C f tn is charming wilding is placed under conditions 

 *■»,! fo its full development. we readily acknowledge 



Wordsworth- ^ ^ fa wheQ mother Fancy roc ks 



The wayward brain, to saunter through a wood I 



An old place, full of many a lowly brood, % 



Tall trees, green arbours, and grand flowers in flocks, 



\nd wild rose tiptoe on hawthorn stocks, 



Like to a bonny lass, who plays her pranks 



At wakes and fairs with wandering mountebanks— 



When she stands cresting the clown's head, and mocks 



The crowd beneath her. " 



There are several other roses indigenous to this country, but this has 

 kl»est claims to be regarded as the wild rose of England. It is 



imonin all parts of the country, and its deep pink and blush-coloured 

 rers, and bright rose-tinted buds, interspersed with the fresh green 



^ant leafage, add immensely to the charms of country lane and wood- 

 3 walk at this season of the year, these in their turn to be succeeded 

 If the bright red hips which present such an attractive appearance during 

 Je autumn. It is not alone in the hedgerow that the dog rose appears 

 ^advantage, for on railway banks, waste spaces by the roadside, and in 

 aeadows where a few' bushes away from the boundaries are not regarded 



as objectionable, it may be seen displaying a wealth of floral beauty that 



■ecimcns associated with other forms of arborescent vegetation strive 

 ■ nin to emulate. In positions such as those mentioned, we may see 



tTadit1on/S e a tin h f dly ]tSS , interestin S than beautiful, for there are many 

 of thl ZUf f v° U ' and * be yarded as the progenitor of many 

 of the beautify of the roses that have found a home in English garden* 



Wild roses: "exclaims Sir Edwin Arnold. "That leads us back to 

 yonder splendid and sumptuous white Devon Queens of the garden, 

 hanging their scented heads in garlands of beauty round these windows, 

 it we could only do as much by education for the races of man as the 

 gardeners since Adam have done with the common dog rose, what would 

 not be the progress of humanity by now ? All the wonderful varieties of 

 tnerose-the thousand graces and gloriesjwhich she wears in doubled and 

 trebled blossoms of crimson and claret, saffron and scarlet, palest pink 

 and deep g owing gold, milky or pearly and creamy shades, or else Im- 

 perial purple, lemon-yellow, sulphur or salmon, or snowy-white, with her 

 own special and self-named ' rose-colour '—these all are offshoots of the 

 humble hedge bramble, which was Nature's first draught plan of the 

 Koyal flower that has filled literature, inspired the poetry of 3,000 years, 

 taught co our and form to painters, and their moonlight music to the 

 nightingales of Shiraz." It may not be absolutely correct to state that 



all the wonderful varieties" of roses that grace our gardens have 

 descended from the "common dog rose," but there can be no question 

 as to the varieties which constitute the chief splendour of the rose garden 

 having descended from it Rosa canina has a very wide distribution, 

 and is in consequence a very variable plant, being, like many others, 

 greatly influenced by different conditions of soil and climate. Bearing 

 the fact in mind that the most important of the cultivated roses belong 

 to the canime group, it is somewhat remarkable that among the many 

 varieties of the common dog rose none have acquired renown as garden 

 roses. But hitherto rosarians have not bestowed a thought on the pos- 

 sible value of its pollen, though for ever absorbed in admiration of the 

 actual value of its hungry roots. Its possibilities as a pollen and seed- 



4 6 



rHB SWEET WILD ROSE 



Jj*J roses forming bushes 



keight ; and apart 

 ■ » Karland of flowers, 



to cultivators 



STARRING EACH BUSH IN LANES ANt» GLADES. 



of especial 



as 



allowing 

 In the 



Karland r,f" aZZl fr °'? their charms when 



1 ft flA ™"°~, they are 



on which fwT" u° f L - roses the desirability of 1 

 9** the rose are the ' r ? n T re ,atitude of g">Wth. ... 



»*t htt e in sf/e w ^ annU ,l ,Iy ^$ 50 great a £everit y th *t they 



'i biife. e ^n/;: C ln^™^ wl WJW free from the ever active 



and annually produce immense numbers 



and 

 hard 



nd of a pro- bearing plant are evidently now being recognised, for one or our rose 

 every shoot growing firms has presented to public notice a variety obtained by fer- 



interest 



Ji* e * In the nro"«!,irt;^' C ^ il . n , a annual r ly P rod uce immense nun 



classes widT 3SS ,? "T" ° f the hybrid P er PetuaIs 

 Stt* » no 4oZt££™l^™Z* ^hibitipns, rather 



collect 



ffi* on?be ; \ rOSe % V ( er ^ i,ttle Pnming indeed is 



* * p ^tor must be 8 hiS? v lllf f^ 8 ?' the Gar deners' Magazine, 



*<*t and D rofSL^ at,fied to know th at the most successful 



tilising the flowers of the dog rose with polien from either a tea-scented or 

 noisette. As shown at the National Rose Society's exhibition, the (lowers 

 are sufficiently beautiful to justify it in obtaining prominence, and to en- 

 courage further experiments in the same direction. It is reasonable to 

 assume that by hybridising some of the twenty-five or twenty-six recog- 

 nised varieties of R. canina with the best of the garden roses a race 

 of varieties distinguished by their vigour and hardiness, and of a high 

 degree of utility for the wild garden and woodland walks, would be 



case of the free growing obtained. ... . A . . . . c . .,.■„ M . 



ery little pruning indeed is At some period in the far distant past this beautiful wilding was not 



La r* . .9- - . . \ i__ r~..~.**. *%r\A MH th* t#rm rankpr rose arm ieu to 



*^eamate 



portance 



°f * profusion of flow * . ¥?■ ' ♦ u- ake P lent y of wood as the 

 2? «>und by Sy JSSZlSZ teach . In * has onI y been recently 

 ,* ht p a miffJSXSS! E?* 0 ^ 0 * of rosarians, and there 

 10 Plant on* ° . Who ha y e not taken advantage of it that it wnnld 



J^oicountry 

 .jJ^O'l'ties of 



re »oval of the weaklv~£^ w \£ M¥ " ^ nen tne P™ing w 



of garde ns 5: ^ th ' S t0 be done we shou,d 

 * roses, slying D ° W yet ful,y cognized the 



" Wn^° Vely n °* er « 1 find »n thee 

 wild sweetness which no words express 



TK ,*?"" 18 in % simplicity P ' ^ 

 dwell not in the pride of dress » 



regarded with particular favour, and had the term canker rose applied to 

 \t nrM.imablv as an expression of contempt; and in this contempt the 

 poe'ts of Xee^enfuries %o have shared, as is evident from Shakespeare's 

 fifty-fourth sonnet, in which he says :— 



11 The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem 

 For that sweet odour that doth in it live. 

 The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye 

 As the perfumed tincture of the roses, 

 Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly 

 When summer's breath their marked buds discloses ; 

 But, for their virtue only is their show, 

 They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade ; 

 Die to themselves — sweet roses do not so ; 

 Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made." 



Another species that should have prominence in reference to 

 wild roses is the Sweetbriar (Rosa rubiginosa), which has long been 

 held in hieh estimation, and was a favourite with the older poets, 

 Chaucer writes- "Suddenly I felt so sweet an air of eglentere." 



