August 10, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
795 
“ Gardening is the prrest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man "— Bacon. 
©artotthtj 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S., F.R.H.o. 
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10th, 1901. 
_ 1 
The Editorial and Publishing Offices are 
now at 4, Dorset Buildings, Salisbury 
Square, Fleet St., London, E.C., where 
all communications and remittances are 
to be addressed to the Proprietors. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Tuesday, August 13th.—Royal Horticultural Society's Com¬ 
mittees. 
Wednesday, August 14th.—Clevedon Exhibition; Sevenoaks 
Exhibition. 
Thursday, August 15th.—St. Andrew’s (near Great Yarmouth) 
Horiicultural Association. 
Friday, August 16th— National Co-operative Festival at the 
Crystal Palace (2 days). 
Saturday, August 17th. — Bankfoot (Perth) Horticultural 
Society. 
ROSES THAT MIGHT BE IMPROVED. 
ONSIDERING the great popularity 
of Roses at the present day, and the 
growing love for single and double varieties 
of all kinds that are suitable for garden 
decoration or cut flowers, apart from exhi- ■ 
bition purposes, there are many that might 
be taken in hand and improved with the 
intention of getting new varieties, belong¬ 
ing to distinct types. There are gardens 
where the more rambling species could be 
grown in the form of unkept hedges that 
would be more ornamental,* particularly 
when in bloom, than banks of shrubbery 
that are usually allowed to grow into a 
meaningless tangle simply because they are 
wanted to screen certain undesirable objects 
from view. They might even be planted 
on the top of earth banks or mounds, 
whether natural or artificial, and if the 
sunny side of these banks look down on 
walks, or are situated in the vicinity of the 
mansion or other frequented places, the 
prospect would be handsome and effective 
in their season. Roses are fond of the sun 
and must always be more or less directly 
exposed to its influence. That is why we 
advocate that they should be planted on 
southern exposures, for then the branches 
would all bend in that direction, and the 
wealth of Roses produced in June and July 
would be inconceivable except by those 
who had seen them. This does not apply 
to Roses that are pruned annually nor to 
those that are naturally of upright habit, 
but which produce long arching stems, 
giving a profusion of lateral branches bear¬ 
ing flowers the following year. 
In other cases free flowering Roses of 
various habits might be planted in beds or 
clumps upon the grass, upon mounds or in 
hollows set apart for them so that they 
could develop their natural habit unre¬ 
strictedly. There are many ways of 
beautifying a garden with Roses and it only 
awaits the presiding genius of the place to 
turn the many kinds to use by producing 
effects peculiar to individual places as a 
result of the geological characteristics, the 
physical features or the surroundings of the 
same. Some magnificent Roses for adorn¬ 
ment of this kind might yet be produced or 
evolved from species in cultivation, if the 
same energy and enthusiasm were devoted 
to their interests as are at present given to 
hybrid perpetual, Tea, Noisette and hybrid 
Tea Roses, more or less of formal and 
bushy habit. 
Rosa sinica. —The original wild type of 
this climbing Rose, introduced from China 
in 1759, has single white flowers of hand¬ 
some size, though in this latter respect it 
has been excelled by the beautiful variety 
known as R. sinica Anemone, the individual 
blossoms of which measure 4 iD. or 5 in. in 
diameter. They are of a rich rose and singu¬ 
larly attractive in association with their 
own foliage. The leaves consist of three 
leaflets, of a leathery character and of a 
shining dark green colour. These features 
in association with their great size remind 
us of the leaves of a Portugal Laurel rather 
thanaRose. Norarethey in any way coarse. 
It may be remembered, however, that leaves 
on unpruned plants are never so large as 
those from plants that are annually sub¬ 
jected to a more or less severe trimming. 
The variety Anemone shows that the species 
is capable of being improved; and some 
well directed efforts might give us choice 
varieties of a climbing Rose, with blossoms 
of the largest size occurring in the genus. 
It is also an early Rose, as an Award of 
Merit was granted it by the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society on the 5th of June last 
year. 
Rosa sericea.—The Rose season might be 
greatly extended by the use of species that 
naturally flower early. The Himalayan 
species, R. sericea, offers a good starting 
point for improvers in this respect. The 
flowers are naturally produced towards the 
end of May, and if grown against a wall 
the plant would bloom even earlier. The 
leaves are not unlike those of the Austrian 
Brier and the Scotch Rose, the leaflets 
being somewhat larger. Here we have a 
feature of great distinctness, associated with 
a great profusion of white flowers, followed 
in the autumn by yellow heps. A peculi¬ 
arity of this species is that its blossoms are 
made up of four petals, a very unusual 
feature amongst Roses. It would be 
interesting to know what form of double Rose 
they would produce, if raisers could induce 
it to enter that stage of variation, either as 
a result of its own evolution as induced by 
cultivation, or by crossing with other 
species. In its present form, however, it is 
a charming Rose when in full bloom, antici¬ 
pating as it were the coming of the Rose 
season in the open air. 
The SmalMeaved Rose (Rosa microphylla). 
—With respect to the fineness of the foliage 
this might very well be compared with R, 
sericea. That under notice is of sturdy 
habit and comes to us from China. The 
deliciously scented flowers are pale rose in 
colour, and of great size, so that as in the 
case of R. sinica, a large-flowered race 
might be produced either for furnishing 
pillars or as huge clumps by themselves in 
a suitable position. The prickly yellow 
fruits remind us of several of our native 
Roses, and while forbidding to handle have 
a wild beauty of their own that should not 
be ignored in garden decoration. 
Rosa canina dumalis.— With the excep¬ 
tion of the Scotch Rose, the Sweet Brier 
and the Ayrshire Roses, it does not seem to 
have occurred to Rose breeders to improve 
the native Roses. Exotics are imported 
from all parts of the world, and Rose 
growers seem to be proud of the feat of 
flowering them, even if the flowers are 
scanty and small. Many of them have 
flowers, scarcely if at all larger than those 
of the British R. micrantha, and inferior 
even to that, considering the freedom with 
which it blooms. There are, of course, 
Dog Roses and Dog Roses, so called, but 
some of them have flowers 1J in. to 2 in. in 
diameter even in a wild state, and are pro¬ 
duced in such profusion that they can 
hardly be surpassed as single Roses even 
by exotics, if we except such cluster Roses 
as R. multiflora and R. moschata. R. 
canina dumalis varies from a bright rose to 
white, the latter being the scarcer, R. 
canina lutetiana is usually of a pale rosy- 
pink, but the flowers are as large as those 
of the variety previously mentioned, and 
both being naturally inclined to vary in a 
wild state there can be little doubt they 
could be greatly improved by cultivation, 
intercrossing, and the selection of the best 
forms. A third one might be added, 
namely, R. c. dumetorum, which is also, as 
a rule, brightly coloured and of large form. 
Several others are scarcely inferior. The 
best plan for making a commencement 
would be to look for them while in bloom 
and mark the bushes that produce the 
largest and most highly-coloured flowers. 
They could then be budded upon roots of 
Brier Roses, raised from seeds or cuttings, 
preferably the latter, as they are less 
inclined to strike deeply into the soil. In a 
few years they would make vigorous 
bushes and flower profusely. In the mean¬ 
time, they could be crossed with more 
highly-coloured single Roses with the view 
of intensifying their colours. A skilful 
hybridist should, in the course of a few 
years, produce something more worthy of 
garden space than half the single Roses in 
cultivation. The natural habit of the 
above is to produce huge arching bushes, 
which, if sufficiently isolated, would pro¬ 
duce a mass of bloom, equally effective on 
all sides, and highly ornamental from all 
points of the compass. There seems no 
reason why we should not have a section of 
Dog Roses, by that or any other name, 
than of Scotch Roses or Sweet Briers. 
Rosa stylosa. —There are several wild 
forms of this British Rose, including some 
white ones; but the more common form, 
R. s. systyla may easily be procured from 
any chalky district, and turned to useful 
account in the Rose garden, wild garden or 
shrubbery. The flowers are rather pale in 
colour, but of large size and produced in 
great profusion during the latter part of 
June and in July. It has the same arching, 
bushy habit as the Dog Roses above men¬ 
tioned, but usually flowers with the greatest 
profusion when not much more than half 
the height. 
Fruiting Roses. —Several Roses are highly 
ornamental whether in flower or fruit, and 
advantage might be taken of that fact to 
continue their decorative value after the 
flowers have fallen. Some of them ripen 
early and others late, so that they could be 
arranged in beds or masses in the order of 
ripening. One of the finest is the Romanes 
Rose (R. rugosa), whose fruits are bright 
red and about twice the size of the Siberian 
Crab Apple. It ripens in August. The 
fruits of R. pomifera and R. mollis are also 
of handsome size, the latter being British 
and ripening late in August and the begin¬ 
ning of September. The top-shaped or 
subglobular fruits of the latter weigh down 
the bushes in the Highland glens during 
September. The long fruits of the dwarf 
and bushy Alpine Rose (R. alpina) are 
bright red, curious, and ornamental. The 
bright scarlet and bristly fruits of R. 
micrantha are no means devoid of orna¬ 
ment. They ripen in October and would 
form a succession to those of the other 
species. It is a British Rose, closely allied 
to the Sweet Brier, and individuals amongst 
the wild specimens have distinctly scented 
foliage, the scent, more or less, closely 
resembling that of the Sweet Brier. 
■i » 
A Belt of Open Spaces.—Several writers In the 
daily papers are advocating a scheme for preserving 
a belt of open spaces round London. If carried out 
it would, as they suggest, be a most suitable national 
memorial to the Queen, and such a memorial would 
be a permanent blessing to the heart of the Empire, 
and on a scale worthy of the great reign it would 
commemorate. A similar scheme was advocat'd by 
Mr. f. C. Loudon, many years ago. 
