172 
THE FLORIST. 
be stopped by chilly November: they will thus form short spurs ; 
from these, and from the bases of those shoots which bloom in Sep¬ 
tember and October, mind that every truss of flowers is cut off* as 
soon as faded. You will have an abundant crop of very early flowers. 
Do not touch your plant with the knife after October. 
How gloriously beautiful have been, and are, the Hybrid Perpetual 
Roses this season ! The glowing warmth of May gave them a vivid¬ 
ness of colour quite unprecedented. Baronne Prevost has been per¬ 
fectly splendid; this Rose ought not to be mixed with others; it is so 
massive and grand, that a large bed in every good Rose-garden should 
be appropriated to it—plants are cheap and plentiful. Duchess of 
Sutherland never before shone in such beautiful array. Madame 
LafFay, William Jesse, Dr. Marx, Aubernon, Augustine Mouchelet, 
Lady Alice Peel, Louis Bonaparte, Robin Hood, Due d’Aumale, and 
Marquise Boccella, have all bloomed remarkably early this season, 
and most brilliantly—in fact, they are our earliest, as well as some of 
our finest late Roses. 
Were I a millionnaire, my Rose-garden should be a park, and my 
groups of Hybrid Perpetual and Bourbon Roses numerous “ as leaves 
in Valombrosa.” By the way, planting mixed clumps or beds of 
Hybrid Perpetuals is not “good practice;” fix on a few really good 
sorts, and plant a clump of each. Aubernon, Lady Alice Peel, Due 
d’Aumale, and Marquise Boccella, are all dwarf compact growers; 
they are all most beautiful, but, if planted in the same bed, are soon 
hidden by such a giant, or perhaps giantess, as Baronne Prevost and 
some others. 
How difficult it is to find among the numerous new varieties of 
this family any one to excel our established favourites. We now 
want a scarlet La Reine, a yellow Madame LafFay, and a white Wil¬ 
liam Jesse; there are, however, a few new Roses really worthy of our 
notice; a word or two about them will perhaps not be out of place as a 
guide to purchasers. What a crowd of names of new autumnal Roses 
just now pours in upon me ; my brain recoils at the dense cloudy mass, 
with only here and there a star to brighten it. 
I well remember the days when the little word “new” to a flower 
or plant was at once a passport. In my very early descriptive cata¬ 
logues of Roses, all that was required was to have a new Rose at a 
high price, its quality was of secondary importance—the price sold 
it: the floricultural world is now, perhaps, more sad, certainly more 
wise. 
It has therefore become the duty of every cultivator of Roses to 
prove every variety before he offers it for sale, unless offered at the 
risk. Upwards of one hundred varieties of Hybrid Perpetual Roses 
have, as the French term it, “ been placed in commerce” since the 
summer of 1846; from these not more than ten or twelve could be 
selected as really distinct and good; they are nearly all pretty—for 
what Rose is not.^—but they are not better than those favourites 
enumerated in the early part of this article. Among the new Roses 
that have bloomed this season in brilliant perfection, Geant des Ba- 
tailles holds the first place; owing, I presume, to the heat and warmth of 
