May, 1919 
43 
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Single Roses. 
W ERE ANYONE to take the pains to 
look into the subject in a truly catho- 
lic spirit it would in all probability be 
found that there is hardly anything that man 
recognizes by his senses which has not been 
or is not now under the capricious, incon- 
stant, and terribly exacting domination of 
that most powerful of human deities — Dame 
Fashion. Pointing to a clock on the wall of 
an imposing building, set in the midst of a 
domain surrounded by high walling, a visitor 
once asked an inmate if it was right. “No,” 
came the reply; “No, it wouldn’t be in here 
if it was.” 
It would not be in the world if Dame 
Fashion did not rule it. Roses as much as 
anything else have felt her unseen influence. 
When was the last Moss Rose seen at a 
“National” show? And yet the first of the 
great nurserymen to make a Rose book (Mr. 
T. Rivers, Jr., in the Rose Amateur's Guide, 
published in 1837) wrote these words of the 
type : “ These Roses always have been, and 
I hope always will be favorities; for what 
can be more elegant than the bud of the 
Moss Rose, with its pure rose-color peeping 
through that beautiful and unique envelope?” 
A popular quotation of the forties of the last 
century shows us what our great-grand- 
mothers thought of them : 
“ Then,” said the Rose with deepest glow, 
“ On me another grace bestow ” 
The Angel paused in silent thought, 
“ What grace is there I he flower has not ?” — 
’Twas but a moment— o’er the Rose 
A veil of moss the Angel throws, 
And, robed in Nature's simplest weed. 
Could there a flower the Rose exceed?" 
Or, again, where are those hundreds of hy- 
brids or varieties of the Scotch Rose (Rosa 
spinosissima) which in remote ages filled the 
catalogues of dealers? 
On the other hand, to think of the long 
list of hybrid teas, Mme. Abel Chalenay, 
Lady Pirrie, Ophelia, General McArthur, Irish 
Elegance, and others almost as sand on the 
sea shore in number is to provoke feelings 
of intense pleasure and profound thankful- 
ness that we are living under the lucky 
planet that is godfather to this now omni- 
present race. And then again to come to 
the immediate present with its increasing 
legions of hybrid singles— the great yellow- 
centred tribes of attractive simplicity— dare 
I say as I look at Pax, at Sinica Anemone, 
at Red Letter Day, at Irish Elegance, at Mrs. 
C. E. Salmon, at American Pillar, and at 
Una that the art of Dame Nature has been 
surpassed by that of Brother Man ? 
Does someone say, “Well, hardly ever?” 
Mutatis mutandis. 
“ Worth makes the man and want of it the fellow. 
The rest is all but leather and prunella." 
I freely allow that anyone who thinks 
otherwise errs in excellent company. So 
many good men and true gardeners love the 
more sensuous double forms with a love and 
devotion that must command the unstinted 
respect of their fellows who see with other 
eyes than they. Hear that profound lover 
and guardian of nature, Forbes Watson, in 
his notes on “Gardeners’ Flowers” in his 
wonderful book Flowers and Gardens. For 
you, lovers of the double, this: “The beau- 
ties of the cultivated rose are more especially 
of that sensuous, striking kind which can 
hardly be overlooked, and are apt to veil in 
their blaze the simpler and less obtrusive 
though more deeply satisfying charms of 
the wild Rose.” For myself and lovers of 
the single, this: “The gardener is an artist 
who interprets Nature by showing her full 
capabilities, by carrying out any beautiful 
tendency whatsoever of a plant to its fullest 
consummation.” The steady incoming tide 
of single Roses is surely bearing to an 
ever-increasing number an era of satisfaction 
and simple pleasure such as has never been 
before. These singles are a goodly com- 
pany, gathered and formed at sundry times 
and in divers manners from tea and musk, 
from briar and wichuriana, from species and 
from hybrid— a goodly company of growing 
importance, and for decorative purposes well- 
nigh supreme. 
OUR DEBT TO IRELAND. 
Reference to the “ Select List of Roses,” 
published by the National Rose Society, or 
for the matter of that to any trade list 
which adds to its descriptive letterpress the 
names of the raisers and the date of intro- 
duction, will tell us at a glance that the 
twentieth century is the age of the single 
Rose. The Penzance Sweet Briars and a 
few others belong to the last quarter of the 
last century, but beginning with Una, raised 
by Paul & Son in 1900 and coming down to 
Irish Afterglow, a new sport from Irish Fire- 
flame, and offered by Alexander Dickson & 
Sons of Belfast for the first time in the 
spring of the present year, we have a grand 
selection of attractive and deservedly popu- 
lar single Roses. This famous Irish firm 
have made a name for themselves for these 
new beauties. As far as I am aware each 
one is distinguished by the adjectival prefix 
Irish ; thus we have Irish Beauty, large, 
white and very fragrant ; Irish Glory, rosy- 
crimson ; Irish Elegance, apricot and crim- 
son ; Irish Fire flame, orange and scarlet ; 
and Irish Afterglow, the last to be introduced, 
a deep tangerine, vigorous and free. While 
Messrs. Alexander Dickson & Sons, of New- 
townards, co. Down, have done the lion’s 
share of the introducing these Roses of 
“single blessedness,” it should not be forgot- 
ten that we owe the exquisite Isobel to S. 
MacGredy & Son, and Simplicity to Hugh Dick- 
son, Ltd. 
These single Roses, as a rule, make good 
bush plants, combining handsome foliage 
with a sufficiency of bloom to make a pleas- 
ing picture as isolated specimens or as bed- 
ders. For table decoration this Irish “set” is 
quite at the top of the tree, as a visit at any 
National Rose Show to the tent for decora- 
tive tables and bowls and vases will assuredly 
demonstrate. Long may Alex. Dickson & 
Sons continue to give us these beautiful 
flowers ; and how one would welcome a pure 
yellow, with the coloring of the old Austrian 
briar, or a copper apricot to match Louise 
Catherine Breslan, or perhaps a bright bril- 
liant ruby after the pretty Moyesii. 
SCENT AND SWEETNESS. 
“ I am a child of earth and a son of Adam. 
If in some future existence I am denied the 
scent of the Rose and the flavor of the peach 
there will be something wanting to my 
felicity.” So wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes 
in Our Hundred Days in Europe. The pe- 
dantic mind might set its owner to work to 
find out which scent he meant, for a most 
limited acquaintance with Roses makes us 
aware that there are almost as many varia- 
tions of perfume as there are varieties ; and 
I have even seen it stated that it is within 
the bounds of possibility for a Rose person 
to be able to name a large proportion of the 
inhabitants of his Rosery, when blindfolded, 
by scent alone. 
Without being too precise, Rose scent may 
be divided into two great groups— the sweet 
and the spicy or fruity. As examples of 
the first we have the Cabbage Rose (R. cen- 
tifolia), Ziphirine Drouhin. Ulrich Brunner, 
and many of the old-fashioned hybrid per- 
petuals ; while the second division includes 
teas like Manchal Niel, Scotch Briars, and 
the Musk. My purpose in writing the above 
is partly to direct readers’ attention to the 
question of the great diversity of odors which 
are exhaled by the flowers of the Rose 
family. A tentative classification was put 
forward in the 1917 Annual by the Rev. J. 
H. Pemberton, and it would be well if the 
recognized central authority the National 
Society— would in its section labelled “Fra- 
grant Roses” either divide the varieties into 
groups, or what comes to the same thing, 
put a distinguishing mark or letter to each 
one by which to identify its perfume. My 
other object is to pass on an interesting ex- 
tract from Rhodologia t“A Discourse on 
Roses and the Odour of Rose,” by J. Ch. 
Sawer, F.L.S. ) concerning the seat of the 
perfume in the flower: “ The essential oil is 
generally found localised in the epidermal 
cells in the upper surface of the sepals or pet- 
als, though it may exist upon both surfaces, 
especially if the floral organs are completely 
hidden in the bud. The lower surface gen- 
erally contains tannin or pigments derived 
from it. . . . The liberation or disen- 
gagement of perfume from the flower only 
becomes perceptible when the essential oil 
is sufficiently freed from the intermediate 
compounds which generated it. Its forma- 
tion is to some extent in inverse proportion 
to that of the tannin and coloring matters in 
the flower.” A note is added that these 
opinions are speculative, but they seem to 
give a reason why a Rose is sweetest when 
fully open. Rose water has been an article 
of commerce from a very remote date, but 
attar of Roses is a comparatively recent 
production, and was first discovered about 
1574. when it was called “The Oil of Roses 
of Rubeus.” It is a curious fact that al- 
though the Rose is an Oriental plant, and 
that the making of Rose water began to be 
practised first of all in Persia, yet the dis 
covery of the “attar” was made in the West, 
and in all probability some forty years be- 
fore it was known in the East. 
ROSES AT KEW AFTER THE LONG DRY SPELL. 
I paid a visit to Kew in the early days of 
July before the long spell of hot, dry weather 
broke up, and had a good look at the beds of 
Roses which are to be found on both sides 
of the walk that skirts the rhododendron 
semi circle alongside the Palm house. It 
had been a trying time, and as there was a 
great difference in the condition of the dif- 
ferent varieties, I made a list of those which 
looked the best. For the benefit of those 
who do not know Kew I ought to say that 
the practice there is to grow each variety bv 
itself. A well filled and flourishing looking 
bed ought to be neither all flowers nor all 
foliage, but should have a proper proportion 
of each. Applying this test the following 
list gives the names in alphabetical order of 
those that came nearest this standard : Au- 
gustus Hartmann, Caroline Testout, Com- 
mander Jules Gravereaux, Cherry Page, Gen- 
eral McArthur, Grace Darling, Hugh Dickson, 
Lady Ashtown, Lady Pirrie, Ophelia, and 
Ulrich Brunner. The second best were as 
follows : Corallina. Liberty, Mrs- J. Laing. 
and St. Helena. During this visit I noticed 
a glorious bit of American Pillar growing in 
a loose, luxuriant way over the arch in the 
wall that divides the Herbaceous Garden 
from the main gaiden. The look of this 
charming Rose invariably appeals to me ; it 
is so bright and cheery, a result, it would 
seem, of the clear Rose petals having a paler 
centre. Then the flowers are not too large, 
and the petals expand just enough to look 
well. Altogether American Pillar is a Rose 
to conjure with. It is true that it is only a 
summer flowerer, but it is so good that it may 
safely be classified among the feelings or 
things for which the familiar quotation, 
“ ’Tis better to have loved and lost 
Than never to have loved at all.” 
may be used as a motto. Even perpetual- 
ness may be overdone.— Joseph Jacob in 
The Queen (English.) 
