122 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
SCENTED ROSES. 
By E. J. Holland, F.R.H.S., President, National Rose Society. 
[Read June 21, 1921 ; Mr. C. T. Musgrave in the Chair.] 
May I commence my paper with an oft-quoted passage from Ruskin ? 
" Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity. 
Children love them ; quiet, contented, ordinary people love them as 
they grow ; luxurious and disorderly people rejoice in them gathered ; 
they are the cottager's treasure ; and in the crowded towns mark as 
with a little broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers 
in whose hearts rest the covenant of peace. Yet few people really 
care about flowers. Many indeed are fond of finding a new shape of 
blossom, caring for it as a child cares about a kaleidoscope. Many 
also like a fair service of flowers in the greenhouse, as a fair service of 
plate on the table. Many are scientifically interested in them, though 
even these in the nomenclature rather than the flowers ; and a few 
enjoy their gardens." 
Though in his inimitable style he gives us the truth as he saw it, I 
cannot help thinking that had he written seventy years later and seen 
the immense development of the love of flowers, and the joy of culti- 
vating them amongst all classes of the community, he might have 
expressed himself rather differently. 
However, as rose-lovers, we forgive him when we read on. 
" Perhaps few people have ever asked themselves why they admire a 
Rose more than all other flowers. If they consider they will find first 
that red is, in a delicately gradated state, the loveliest of all pure 
colours ; and secondly that in the Rose there is no shadow except what 
is composed of colour. All its shadows are fuller in colour than its 
lights, owing to the translucency and reflective power of the leaves," — 
and then he asks : " Has the reader ever considered the relations of the 
commonest forms of volatile substance ? The invisible particles which 
cause the scent of a Rose leaf, how minute, how multitudinous, passing 
richly into the air continually ! " I hope to speak further of these in- 
visible particles. For the moment you will note that when he wrote 
that passage he had in his mind Red Roses and Scented Roses, and I 
think it must be admitted that while we may admire our yellow Roses, 
our pink Roses and our white Roses, not to mention the newer shades 
which M. Pernet-Ducher and others have given us, red is the colour 
we most desire in Roses, and further that one of the charms of a Rose 
is scent. 
Everyone expects fragrance in a Rose. Everyone is disappointed 
to find a scentless Rose. The reason is not far to seek. For genera- 
tions our forefathers, limited as they were in the choice of varieties, 
