NOVEMBER. 
339 
FORTHCOMING NEW ROSES. 
As I knew that amongst the readers of the Florist were to be 
found some of the most enthusiastic rose growers in England, I 
thought that the best service I could render them during my 
recent visit to France, was to obtain such information upon the 
subject of the forthcoming roses as might gratify my own curiosity, 
and be someivliat of a guide to them. I have made the best 
use of my eyes and ears that I could; have visited Margottin, 
Verdier, Marest, Touvais, Troulliard, Portemer, &c.; have obtained 
lists of the new varieties, and, in fact, done my best to get 
together Some information on the point, and the conclusion that I 
have come to is, that we are not to expect any very striking addi¬ 
tion to our lists this season. (I do not here allude to Troulliard, 
which will not be forthcoming till 1863.) There are some which 
promise well, but when I say that there are, I verily believe, 
nearly a hundred new ones to come out, it will be seen how diffi¬ 
cult is the task of selection, especially as one feels that under the 
most favourable circumstances not one-tenth of these will be 
retained in our lists; in such a case one must rely more on the 
known characters of the vendors than on anything else. Men like 
Margottin and Marest will not wilfully deceive; they may be mis¬ 
taken, but they regret it as much as the public when it is so. 
The name of Margottin reminds me that he was the sender out of 
Boule d’Or, and that that rose may be cited as a proof of a 
mistake. I think we must bide a bit before we condemn it. I 
saw it in twenty different places in the raiser’s ground, and in 
every case it had opened freely, and was most brilliant in colour; 
perhaps like some other Teas, it may prefer a wall, but at any 
rate, what I saw of it would make me say, do not condemn it yet; 
the whole subject of seedling roses is one on which a good deal of 
light was thrown, for me at least, by Margottin; he says that he 
has generally 20 to 30,000 of them, and that rarely any really 
valuable seedling flowers before the fifth or sixth year, and that 
those that flower the first and second, however taking they may 
seem to be, are so delicate that they die off after blooming. 
He showed me great gaps in his seedling department, which had 
arisen from this cause. Again, he says that roses which are very 
double as seedlings, never open when they are budded; and that 
many which seem to be valuable in the seed plot, are good for 
nothing when put upon stocks. He thus never sends out a rose 
which has not been through a long series of proofs, and if after 
that it disappoints, I believe in his case and that of some others, 
it is not a matter of wilful deception. We had a long talk on the 
subject of shape, and he seems fully alive to the fact that it is that 
that we want on our side of the water. Louise Odier was raised 
by him, and is the parent of some seedlings which promise well 
for next year. There was another matter in the cultivation of 
roses which I heard from Troulliard of Angers, which struck me 
forcibly as one likely to be of service to us, and that is to graft 
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