126 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
proclaimed them the aristocracy of Roses, For a good many years 
Hybrid Perpetuate and Teas formed the two principal sections in 
Rose Catalogues. Indeed, classes are still reserved to Tea Roses in the 
Exhibitions of the National Rose Society, although some of the Roses 
now included under the head of Tea Roses are certainly not pure Teas. 
The next stage is a most important one in the evolution of our 
modern Roses. Just as the Hybrid Perpetual ousted old-time 
favourites from our gardens, so a new Hybrid race, resulting from 
the crossing of the Hybrid Perpetual with the Tea, has already largely 
succeeded in supplanting both the Hybrid Perpetual and the Tea. 
This class of Roses is called ' Hybrid Tea/ a not particularly satis- 
factory name. It includes a large army of new Roses of very diverse 
character, some obviously more nearly allied to the Hybrid Perpetual 
than to the Tea, and vice versa. We have already seen that the French, 
Provence, Damask, and China Roses all enter into the composition of 
the Hybrid Perpetual. This last stage in hybridization therefore 
introduced a further admixture of the China or Tea element, thus 
securing in combination the greater hardiness of the Hybrid Perpetual 
with the free-flowering propensities of the Tea. 
It was undoubtedly a wonderful step forward. Here was a class 
of Roses possessing most desirable qualities, and hybridists bent all 
their energies to the production of new varieties, with most remarkable 
results, inasmuch as this class soon contained the best Roses for almost 
every purpose : for bedding, for pillars, for standards, for exhibition, 
and for cultivation under glass. A perusal of the catalogue of one of 
our leading nurserymen shows that from thirty-five varieties listed in 
1902 the number had increased to 220 in 1914, and of new Roses 
introduced since by far the greater number are classed as Hybrid Teas. 
In 1916 over sixty new varieties were shown for the Gold Medal of the 
National Rose Society on a single day. 
The coming of the Hybrid Tea immensely increased the popularity 
of the Rose in our gardens. But as in all progress something has 
usually to be sacrificed, so, speaking generally, we have secured many 
desirable qualities : perfection in form, numberless gradations and 
blendings of colour, freedom and continuity of flowering over a long 
period, say from June to November, at the expense of perfume, and 
the red shades of the Damask. We must count our gains by the 
result on balance, and who shall say that these have not been great, 
even if we do, as Shelley says, " look before and after and pine for 
what is not " ? 
To some degree our Rose Shows, I think, have had an adverse 
influence in the matter of scent. In order to satisfy the requirements 
of exhibitors hybridists concentrated their attention on the develop- 
ment of form and size. Even colour was regarded lightly — else how 
could such a Rose as ' Marchioness of Londonderry ' have been 
awarded the Gold Medal of the N.R.S. ? Let me say nothing in dis- 
paragement of our Shows. The Rose world is deeply indebted to 
them. It must be confessed, however, that for a time the exhibition 
