112 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 10,1887. 
HYBRID TEA ROSE?. 
When the first announcement was made of the “ Pedigree Roses,” 
so called, I was requested by the Editor of the Journal to visit them and 
give my report. That report was, on the whole, I think rather too 
favourable a one. I expressed my doubt as to their value as exhibition 
flowers, and thought the raiser was in too great a hurry to send them 
out; but I at the same time expressed my opinion of his work. “ He is 
on the right track, and I am sure such an intelligent method of proce¬ 
dure must produce good results, and I think rosarians will wish him 
success in his painstaking endeavours to impart novelty to our Rose 
lists.” Of this first batch of seedlings not one has proved to be an 
exhibition Rose, and even in gardens where Roses of all kinds are to be 
found, it is vain to look for any of them. 
Before this time we had one Hybrid Tea Rose—“ Cheshunt Hybrid,” 
a Rose, which as a garden flower, had become most popular, and still 
retains its popularity in all parts of the world. A writer in the 
“ Rosarian’s Year Book for 1887,” writes enthusiastically of the esteem in 
which it is held in the Antipodes. Since then other Roses have been 
brought out claiming a similar parentage, and in the case of La France, 
a Rose which had been long regarded as a H.P., was by its raiser, 
M. Guillot, taken out of that class and placed as a Hybrid Tea. It is 
evident, too. that an infusion of Tea blood had taken place in other Roses, 
and as most of the French growers did not artificially hybridise, it was 
extremely difficult to say what their parentage was ; but no one can see 
blooms of Captain Christy, Jules Finger, and others, without feeling 
that they have a good admixture of Tea blood in them. 
I think there are two things to he borne in mind with regard to 
artificial hybridising in order to modify our assent to the statement of 
the parentage of certain flowers. One is that where a number of flowers 
are so treated it requires more than ordinary care, not only in the prin¬ 
cipal but in all employed, that complete accuracy is observed. The 
hybridiser may be very certain as to what flowers he uses in his experi¬ 
ments, but it is not quite so certain that his assistants will afterwards 
be so accurate in taking care of the progeny as he has been in originat¬ 
ing it ; and the second, careful as he may have been, there may have 
been a hybridiser in the field before him, a bee or a moth may have 
upset all his plans, and while he is carefully nursing up his supposed 
progeny he may be really taking care of the babies which owe their 
origin to Plusia gamma, or a bumble or hive bee. Many a time we have 
seen this in flowers which have been brought before the Floral Committee 
of the Royal Horticultural Society. They are stated to have been hybrids 
bet ween certain varieties, but no trace of the parentage is present. In 
many instances, too, the pollen is dropped without any intervention, and 
in the case of species it is reproduced, and in the case of varieties the 
tendency to variation may produce varieties which are in no way due 
to the hybridiser, but to the inherent tendency of the flowers to vary ; 
and, therefore, when the parentage of certain Roses is questioned it is 
not necessary to impugn the good faith or veracity of the raiser, but to 
suppose that there has been a mistake or interference somewhere, and 
we are not bound to assume that a Rose is of necessity what a raiser 
states it to be. 
When this question of Hybrid Teas was brought before the Com¬ 
mittee of the National Rose Society two courses were strenuously advo¬ 
cated ; one was to include them amongst the Teas and allow them to be 
so exhibited. This was very strenuously resisted, and ultimately it was 
decided that they were not to be so exhibited. Every year, I think, 
proves the wisdom of this resolution, for how utterly would our lovely 
stands of Teas have been spoiled by their introduction. Fancy the 
fresh Paul Neyron-like bloom of Her Majesty overshadowing such 
flowers as Rubens, Souvenir d’Elise, or Marie Van Houtte. The other 
idea was to make a separate class for them. This was also resisted. It 
was pointed out that it would be most difficult to define which were 
Hybrid Teas and which were not. It was asked whether we were to 
take the word of the raiser or go by the character of the plant and 
flowers ; and, if so, who was to decide ? Was, for instance, Captain 
Christy to be included amongst them as well as Reine Marie Henriette ; 
and ultimately the idea was abandoned, and thus another source of con¬ 
fusion was avoided. After a time another question arose, As these Roses 
were said to be hybrid between an H.P. and a Tea, if they were not to be 
allowed to be exhibited amongst Teas, what was their proper place ? In 
the case of Lady Mary Fitzwilliam it will be remembered that confusion 
arose from their double parentage. In a class for H.P.’sat Cardiff a stand 
was disqualified for containing it, as it was alleged it was not an H.P., 
while a few days afterwards two experienced judges awarded it the 
prize at Manchester for the best H.P. in the show. The Committee of 
the National Rose Society had again to consider the matter, and it was 
decided that all Hybrid Teas were to be shown amongst Hybrid Per- 
petuals, and no other conclusion seems possible. 
We were startled the year before last by being informed that Mons. 
Guillot had raised a yellow Hybrid Perpetual. It proved to be one of 
those troublesome Hybrid Teas, and it might just as well have been so 
styled ; but now we are confronted with another puzzle. The raiser of 
Lady Mary Fitzwilliam is not pleased because she is not scheduled 
amongst Teas, and her right to that position disputed. He has himself 
to blame in the first place, for in his published announcement for 1882 
he advertises three distinct classes of Roses1, Teas : Princess of 
Wales ; then 2, Hybrid Teas, amongst which he places Lady Mary Fitz¬ 
william ; and 3, Hybrid Perpetuals. After this I think it shows a con¬ 
siderable amount of fortitude to declare that the Rose he himself 
announced as a Hybrid Tea does not belong to the class, unless he 
means to assert that all Hybrid Teas are Teas, and would swamp that 
beautiful and refined class with a lot of Roses, some doubtless very 
beautiful, but others coarse. And now see how this holds with re¬ 
gard to a Rose which has been more cleverly introduced than any 
flower of recent years—Her Majesty. It was very finely exhibited by 
the raiser, it obtained the gold medal of the National Rose Society, and 
then retired from public gaze. The name itself was a taking one, and 
for a couple of years the constant question was, When would Her 
Majesty be let out 1 At last it was rumoured that it had been bought 
in its entirety by an American nurseryman, and that it was not to be: 
had in England ; then afterwards we heard that a very eminent firm of 
Rose growers in England had been appointed sole agents all this time. 
I am justified in saying that everyone’s belief, although some were 
startled at the character of its growth, was that it was a Hybrid Per¬ 
petual. When it was announced here it was as an H.P., but the firm 
who sent it out gave its parentage—a hybrid between Canari and Mabel 
Morrison ! I have no doubt the raiser thinks this is its parentage, but 
others will be equally certain that the hybridisations have been inter¬ 
fered with. The announcements by other growers gave it the character 
of a Hybrid Perpetual, but did not designate its parentage, and so it 
has come to be generally accepted that it is a Hybrid Perpetual. 
What, then, is the conclusion of the whole matter l I do not think 
that we shall admit the claim of such Roses as Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, 
Cheshunt Hybrid, Reine Marie Henriette, Her Majesty, to be considered 
Teas, for if the first of these be a Tea the others must be ; this is a 
claim which will never be allowed. They may, according to the wishes 
of the raisers, be placed either amongst Hybrid Perpetuals or amongst 
Hybrid Teas. To my mind it would be better to do away altogether 
with the classes of Hybrid Teas in the catalogues, and group all such 
Roses under the Hybrid Perpetuals ; but then wc must be sure of our 
ground. Such Roses as Miss Ingram, which was for many years consi¬ 
dered a Hybrid Perpetual, should not be admitted amongst them, as it 
is essentially a summer Rose ; nor, again, such as Madame Isaac Pereire, 
to all intents and purposes a Bourbon ; nor again should Duchess of 
Edinburgh be classed amongst Teas, for it is nothing but a China. This 
is a class for which, I confess, I am very jealous. I should like it kept 
select, admitting only into it those which are of “ pur sang.” 
These observations are only given for the purpose of trying to avoid 
the confusion which, I fear, looms ahead in the classification of our 
Roses.—D., Deal. 
THE CULTURE OF ACHIMENES IN HANGING 
BASKETS. 
The baskets we prefer are 20 inches in diameter by 12 inches 
deep. They are strongly made of quarter-inch iron rods, as per ac- 
accompanying sketch (fig. 18). They will lasta lifetime if attended to 
in cleaning and painting every autumn as soon as the season is over. 
Fig. 18. 
The tubers, which are preserved in dry sand in pots in winter in 
pits with a temperature of from 45° to 50°, are placed in pans or 
boxes towards the end of February, and are then placed in mode¬ 
rate heat ; a vinery about to be started will answer the purpose 
admirably. The object to attain to should be to get a sturdy 
growth, hence the importance of starting slowly. When the 
plants have made about 2 inches of growth they are ready for 
planting. 
The first operation in connection with this work is to have the 
baskets suspended in the position where the plants are to bloom. 
Afterwards have in readiness a sufficient quantity of tough, light, 
peat sods, 2 inches thick. Cut these with a knife in long strips about 
2 inches wide, and commence planting the baskets by laying pieces 
of this peat strips in coils on the bottom of the baskets, with 
spaces between wide enough to take a row of young plants head 
downwards, about half an inch between plant and plant in the row. 
The space between the sods must not admit the rather fine soil 
in which they are planted to escape through. The same operation 
is repeated for planting the sides—namely, build up layer after 
layer of the strips of peat with a row of plants between each, as 
directed for the bottom, filling the body of the basket as th 
