Plate 169. 



HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSE — " DUCHESS OF EDINBURGH" 



(H. Bennett). 



A first-class certificate was most deservedly awarded by the Eoyal Horticultural Society 

 to Mr. H. Bennett, of the Manor Farm Nursery, Stapleford, near Wilton, Wilts, in April 

 last year, for the handsome and fragrant new rose here figured. It is a seedling from Mar- 

 guerite de St. Amand, crossed with Madame Rothschild, and surpasses both in every respect, 

 being much more vigorous in growth, much fuller, and of better form than either of its 

 parents. The wood is large, stiff, and erect ; the foliage strong and ample, generally with 

 seven leaflets ; the flowers are very large, and most symmetrically formed ; the petals being 

 evenly arranged, and large and bold, without being coarse ; the colour outside is a beautiful 

 silvery white shaded with rose, gradually deepening to a bright pink centre. When seen at 

 its best, says Mr. Bennett, no better model of a rose can be conceived ; an opinion in which 

 we entirely agree with the raiser. When we add, that this new rose is, unlike so many of 

 our best light-coloured show roses in being devoid of scent, but* that it possesses a delicious 

 perfume equal to the old Cabbage Bose, and that it is of the hardiest constitution, an early 

 and continuous bloomer, and a grand show rose that can be grown and shown by every one, 

 it must be acknowledged that little more need be said in its favour. The Be v. S. Beynolds 

 Hole, of Caunton Manor, writing of it says—" The perfume is something wonderful, even 

 for a rose." We understand from Mr. Bennett that no less than eight thousand plants of 

 new roses are sent out by him in the spring and summer from his nursery near Wilton, 

 about which we shall have something more to say when illustrating another new Wiltshire 

 Bose in a future Number. 



Plate 170. 



BLANDFORDIA PRINCEPS. 



For the opportunity of figuring this beautiful new plant, our thanks are due to Mr. 

 William Bull, of the King's Boad, Chelsea, who introduced it from New South Wales. 

 Blandfordia princeps forms a most showy and handsome object for greenhouse or conserva- 

 tory decoration, and succeeds well in a mixture of sandy loam and peat. This plant received 

 a first-class certificate from the Boyal Botanic Society on the 20th of May last, and it was 

 one of the six new plants not in commerce that received the First Prize at the Boyal Horti- 

 cultural Society's Exhibition on June 2nd; it also received a first prize for a new plant in 

 flower at the same Exhibition. Blandfordia princeps has a somewhat general resemblance 

 to Messrs. Henderson and Sons' hybrid B.ftammea-elegans, figured by us in our last volume; but 

 the two are quite different (as indeed must be the case, our present plant being a botanical species, 

 and the former confessedly a garden hybrid). Mr. Bull's plant differs somewhat in colour, 

 the flowers are a trifle larger, and the stamens and pistil are not displayed as in B.fiammea- 

 elegans ; the foliage, too, of Mr. Bull's plant is much more rigid and narrow than anything 

 we have seen in other varieties. Now that Lilies are becoming such general favourites, it 

 is reasonable to suppose that other plants belonging to the Liliacea? will also receive more 

 attention than heretofore. There are probably few other genera in this natural order con- 

 taining handsomer species than the small genus Blandfordia ; where the handsome pendulous 

 flowers in all the known species are tinted with the richest shades of yellow, scarlet, or 

 crimson colour. 



