1880. ] 
ROSE HER MAJESTY.—AURICULA GOSSIP. 
81 
ROSE HER 
[Plate 
splendid hybrid Rose, which was 
sed by Mr. H. Bennett, of the 
nor Farm, Stapleford, near Salis¬ 
bury, is the result of an artificial cross between 
H. P. Mabel Morrison and Tea Canary, the 
former being the seed-bearing plant. It is of 
a most robust habit, producing wood which is 
probably stouter than that of any known rose ; 
even on the very poor Stapleford soil, it has 
sent up shoots 7 ft. high of a uniform thick¬ 
ness, and about three-fourths of an inch in 
diameter, sufficiently stiff to form standards on 
its own stem. It is certainly a complete break 
in the races, having all the characteristics of 
the Hybrid Perpetuals as to the form of foli¬ 
age, thorns, die., with a glossy surface to the 
leaves like the Teas. The blooms are exceed¬ 
ingly large, very full, the petals most symme¬ 
trically arranged, and the colour particularly 
clear and bright. Mr. Bennett states that 
he effected this cross in the endeavour 
to produce a yellow Hybrid Perpetual of the 
Madame Rothschild type, and although he has 
not succeeded in this, he may be congratulated 
in having procured what is probably the finest 
light-coloured rose yet raised. The bloom from 
which the plate is taken was the first and only 
flower it has produced out-of-doors, and at the 
time of flowering it was only a year and six 
months old from the seed. It has flowered 
remarkably finely under glass this spring, and 
MAJESTY. 
515.] 
is likely to be constant, as all the blossoms have 
as yet come exactly alike. It seems unaccount¬ 
able that a very double rose like this should 
have been produced from two such thin flowers 
as its parents are, but Mr. Bennett is sure of 
his cross, having this season proved it by the 
like cross, which has come almost identical. 
Perhaps it will be somewhat disappointing 
to Rosarians to learn that it is not Mr. Ben¬ 
nett’s intention to distribute this gem at 
present; and we have his authority for stating 
that no more of his novelties will be placed in 
commerce till 1881, as he is leaving his farm, 
in consequence of the unsuitability of the soil 
for the culture of roses, which will cause a 
break in his business ; but possibly at no dis¬ 
tant date another surprise may be caused by 
these Pedigree Roses, for we hear on reliable 
authority that the Stapleford seedlings are 
numerous, and of very high lineage. 
Some of the blooms of this Rose produced 
under glass this spring were obligingly sent to 
us by Mr. Bennett, as noted at p. 79, and they 
fully bore out Mr. Fitch’s admirable portrait, 
drawn from the open-air flowers of last season, 
the blooms being large in size and perfectly 
double, and the soft, but clear, bright blusli- 
pink colour being exceedingly chaste and 
lovely. It is, in our opinion, quite in the first 
rank of light-coloured flowers, and indis¬ 
pensable in every rosetum.—T. Moore. 
AURICULA GOSSIP: 
f HE best and happiest signs of progress 
in the culture and improvement of the 
Auricula have abundantly appeared in 
that important test, the National Society’s 
shows. Those proofs consist in the greater 
number of exhibitors and interested visitors, 
and the good new seedlings gained in several 
collections. 
That exhibitors seem to increase but slowly 
is only natural with a flower that is itself of 
slow increase in its particular varieties. Not 
yet may any one begin with Auriculas one 
year and expect to exhibit throughout a great 
show the next. Hence the exhibition force of 
the Auricula Society does not, in either North 
or South, measure its full strength. 
That the bloom of one season, or even several 
No. 30. IMPERIAL SERIES, 
WAYSIDE NOTES. 
in succession, should be on the whole below 
the capabilities of the flower, needs must dis¬ 
tress the florist, but we cannot be very old 
growers without having had experiences like 
this ; while, if the season has been too early for 
the South and too tardy for the North, we have 
at least been not frustrated in our hope of 
showing a united bloom. 
The leading feature of the shows to come 
will evidently be the seedlings—not such 
flowers as shall need the protection of a limited 
class to secure them prizes, but such as will 
compare favourably out in the open field of a 
great struggle. It was, however, very inter¬ 
esting to see the young seedlings compete 
among themselves for the suggestive honours 
of the yearlings, after that, by a wise provision, 
G 
