THE CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF HOSES. 
"4. The petals should be imbricated, and 
in distinct rows, whether they be reflexed, like 
some of the velvety tuscan kind, or cupped like 
a ranunculus; and the petals to the centre 
should continue the same form, and only be 
reduced in size." 
" 5. The colour should be distinct and new, 
and stand fast against the sun and air, till the 
bloom fail." 
" 6. The stem should be strong, the footstalk 
stiff and elastic ; the blooms well out beyond 
the foliage, and not in each other's way." 
The very worst habit a Rose can have, is that 
of throwing up several blooms close together, 
on short stiff footstalks, some of which must 
be cut away before the others can be fully de- 
veloped ; as show-flowers they are bad, and 
as plants they are very untidy. The side buds 
prevent the centre flowers from opening cir- 
cularly, and when the first beauty is off them, 
they exhibit dead Roses held fast between two 
living ones. As these show Roses may be found 
in almost every family, we must say nothing 
about the general character of a plant. We 
now proceed to other distinct families. 
THE PROPERTIES OF NOISETTE ROSES. 
However singularly some catalogues class 
these roses, Ave intend, by this name, to distin- 
guish those Roses which bloom in clusters. 
" 1, The petals should be thick, broad, and 
smooth at the edges." 
" 2. The flower should be highly perfumed, 
or, as the dealers call it, fragrant." 
" 3. The flower should be double to the 
centre, high on the crown, round in the out- 
line, and regular in the disposition of the 
petals." 
"4. The cluster should be sufficiently open 
to enable all the flowers to bloom freely, and 
the stems and footstalk should be firm and 
elastic, to hold the flower face upward, or face 
outward, and. not to hang down, and show the 
outside, instead of the inside of the blooms. 
"5. The bloom should be abundant at the 
end of every shoot." 
" 6. The blooming shoots should not exceed 
twelve inches before they flower." 
" 7. The bloom should stand out beyond the 
foliage, and the plant should be compact and 
bushy." 
We now proceed to a family which we shall 
designate Climbing-roses, and which comprise 
blooms of the Noisette kind, that is, in 
bunches ; blooms which come singly, large 
and small; flowers early and late; and, in fact, 
which comprise all sorts of Roses that grow 
tall enough for training. 
PROPERTIES OP CLIMBING ROSES. 
" 1 . The petals should be thick, broad, and 
smooth at the edges." 
" 2. The flower should be highly perfumed, 
or, as the dealers call it, fragrant." 
" 3. The flower should be double to the 
centre, high on the crown, round in the outline, 
and regular in the disposition of the petals." 
" 4. The joints should be short from leaf to 
leaf. The blooms should come on very short 
branches, and all up the main shoots. The 
plant should be always growing and develop- 
ing its flowers, from spring to autumn, and 
the foliage should completely hide all the stems, 
whether the plant be on front of a house or on 
any given device." 
Having now travelled through the chief of the 
families, which require separate notices of their 
properties, the first three properties num- 
bered being required in all of them, we add, 
by way of a finish for all, except Mosses, that 
"The foliage should be bright green and 
shining, and, though not likely to be found in 
many varieties, it should be permanent, and 
constitute an evergreen." 
By this we mainly establish a point in favour 
of an evergreen. We mention nothing about 
size, because size forms the distinction be- 
tween many roses which have no other differ- 
ence, and has little or nothing to do with the 
properties of the Rose. 
And now, having, upon what is considered the 
best authority,* given the properties of a per- 
fect Rose, in several distinct families, we come 
to the first step in their culture : — the choice 
of the varieties intended to be grown. And 
this is no small matter, when it is considered, 
that in catalogues of what are said to be select 
Roses, there are no less than thirty-three 
families, real and pretended, and more than a 
thousand — indeed, nearly eleven hundred va- 
rieties ; and we are told, in this very catalogue, 
that, "owing to the great increase in the 
number of varieties of Roses, it has now become 
impossible to include the whole collection 
cultivated here in a catalogue, so as to come 
within the limits of a twopenny-post." Sick- 
ening as it is to all growers of flowers, to be 
tempted by descriptions to grow a vast num- 
ber, and find many so much alike, as almost 
to defy identity ; disheartening as it may be 
for a beginner to make a choice of a few dozen 
varieties, from nearly eleven hundred, we shall 
not be stepping out of our way, if we give the 
Rose-growers our account of the different fami- 
lies, and offer a few hints as to the best in each 
family ; but they will not be what they ought 
to be, nor will our readers be quite satisfied, 
perhaps, that some which are so nearly alike 
should be placed in two different families. 
Roses are rapidly improving, and hybrid 
varieties will no doubt, in the course of time, 
destroy all distinctions of family as now 
* Glenny's Properties of Flowers and Plants. 
