256 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
so splendidly free of mildew that I think good results would follow 
if crossed with Tea Roses, probably giving us some perpetual-flower- 
ing mildew-resisting varieties. I have crossed it this year with the old 
' Burghley Yellow,' and am looking forward to obtaining the long- 
wished-for Yellow Rambler. We raisers are always most optimistic 
in our work, and although we suffer many grievous disappointments, 
yet that does not diminish our ardour. 
Our native Briar, R. canina, is a good mildew-resist er, and we 
see in ' Una ' what beautiful results might follow its use as a seed 
parent. 
A fine mildew-proof Rose is R. bracteata alba simplex. There is 
a lovely Rose exhibited to-day by Messrs. W. Paul & Son, named 
' Mermaid.' You will observe its beautiful glossy foliage, which is, 
I should say, quite mildew-proof. The raisers intimate its origin to be 
R. bracteata x Tea, I believe, or H. Tea. This may be the forerunner 
of many grand mildew-resisting varieties. 
Some good species which I recommend for trial as a means of 
obtaining mildew-resisters are : R. lucens, R. nitida, R. seraphina, 
R. altaica, R. Verbergi, R. glutinosa, R. microphylla, R. laxa, 
R. Souleii, R. Moyesii. I am indebted to H. R. Darlington, Esq., 
for these suggestions, and to W. Watson, Esq., of Kew, for enabling 
me to show you some of them here to-day, and those interested will 
find them labelled before me. 
Now, I have dealt largely with the Rambler class, and I take it 
we shall have no difficulty in obtaining mildew-resisting Roses suffi- 
cient for our needs from the various species and types mentioned. 
It is when we come to the more popular garden or decorative per- 
petual-blooming Roses that our difficulties increase, and I cannot 
hold out any hopes of a large increase to the mildew-resisting Roses 
so long as the present system of crossing Hybrid Teas with each other 
is carried on. 
We see, for instance, the bad mildew trait of ' Mme. Abel Chatenay ' 
perpetuated over and over again in her offspring, but she is such a 
fine flower-, and has so many good points as a garden Rose, that 
hybridizers cannot resist the temptation to cross-fertilize this variety 
in order to obtain reds, yellows, and other shades of the same 
type of flower. 
I have an idea, but I may be wrong, that much of the mildew 
trouble present among Hybrid Teas may be traced to the old ' Devoni- 
ensis,' a Rose that mildews badly. It was one of the parents that 
Bennett employed to obtain his * Lady Mary Fitzwilliam,' the other 
parent being 'Victor Verdier.' I believe 'Lady Mary Fitzwilliam ' 
was one of the parents of ' Mme. Abel Chatenay.' It was also re- 
sponsible on the pollen side for * Margaret Dickson,' a terror for 
mildew, and ' Caroline Test out,' another culprit in this respect. 
' Caroline Testout ' bequeathed the tendency to mildew to ' Frau 
Karl Druschki,' and so we might go on, tracing back to the one 
origin in ' Devoniensis.' 
