the gardening world . 
July 11, 1903. 
form, so that it must be considered a. fairly reliable Rose, even 
in unfavourable seasons. The' best Tea in the' amateurs’ class 
was Muriel Grahame, ai sport from Catherine Mennet, and 
certainly equal to the best forms of that well-known variety. 
As in the case of the hybrid perpetuals, so- in the case of the 
hybrid Tea Rose®, the best blooms shown by nurserymen and 
amateurs were Bessie Brown. That shown in the nurserymen’s 
class might be described as perfect in every way; indeed, it 
would be difficult for an onlooker to say how it might be im¬ 
proved, except one wished there were more colour in it, when., 
of course, it would be a different variety. 
As we stated above, the hybrid Teas, created a great amount 
of interest amongst the visitors to' the show, on account of 
their prominence in the stands, where tire exhibits were made 
up of mixed blooms of the four permissible types of exhibition 
Rose®. These hybrid Teas have been growing in numbers and 
importance for some years past, and this year it might be said 
that they largely took the place formerly occupied by Tea 
Roses in. the mixed stands. It seems a. much easier matter to 
get . large hybrid Teas than to get Tea Roses of suitable ex¬ 
hibition size. Many of the best Tea. Roses consist of fairly 
old varieties as far as exhibition blooms are concerned, and 
the same might be said of noisettes. Last year we made 
favourable comment upon the variety Mildred Grant. bine© 
then the Rose growers have evidently been giving the variety 
a, deal of attention, but either over cultivation or the. un¬ 
favourable character of the season, probably both in. conjunc¬ 
tion, have been responsible for many spoiled blooms. This: 
variety and Bessie Brown would seem to run . each other hard 
for the first place. Both are light-coloured Roses, but we noted 
several of Mildred Grant that had attained sufficient size and 
form, but were sadly lacking in colour. The petals: were de>- 
cidedly tinted with green, as if from over luxuriance of the 
bushes, but this is a. point better known, perhaps, to. the cul¬ 
tivator. 
Several other of the more recently raised hybrid Teas were 
present in fine form in several of the stands, and some of them 
are decidedly more highly coloured than the two 1 upon which 
wo have commented, but they are considerably behind in the 
matter of size. Some of the finer varieties of fairly recent, 
origin we noted were Killarney, Mrs. W. J. Grant, Countess of 
Caledon, Gustave Regis, Lady Moyra Beauclero, Robert Scott, 
Papa Lambert, Souvenir de President Carnot, Tennyson, and 
White Lady. The hybrid Teas are of some light colour, but a, 
few of them show desirable tints which used to 1 be much 
admired amongst the older Tea. Roses which cultivators 
evidently did their best to bring up of the deepest tints. An¬ 
other variety of the same race which was particularly pro¬ 
minent in the stands was Caroline T'estout, raised a.s long ago 
as 1890, but. although it had got size- and shape to draw the 
attention of visitors to it as a. desirable Rose,, it was lacking 
in colour in a great many instances. Possibly this was: largely 
due to the sudden advent of heat within a short time of the 
show, which hurried the flowers rapidly into bloom, too rapidly 
to get the best colour. We frequently see this Rose much more 
highly coloured in the autumn. It is, indeed, a. very reliable 
Rose, and nearly always turns up well. 
Amongst the Tea Roses, the new Souvenir de Pierre Nothing 
was present in considerable numbers, but although the colouis 
were fine, the upper petals, of the bloom were, in many cases, 
rather rough. This would seem to be a failing of the variety, 
concerning which high hopes were entertained. That variety 
named Comtesse Panisse turned up in. fine form, although it 
is seldom prominent at shows. Comtesse de. Nadaillac was 
present in sufficient numbers', but none of the blooms which we 
observed came at all near the splendid colour wei have on 
former occasions seen in this Rose. Even those who succeed 
best with it have been unable to get proper colour into it this 
year. If any cause might be mentioned, it would be that veiy 
cold weather was suddenly succeeded by forcing weather, 
which was not at all favourable to the best development of this 
class of flower, which delights in a. higher temperature than 
most other sections of the Rose. We could name a, fairly large 
number of varieties well up to the average in the matter of 
quality, but nothing of a record-breaking character, we think, 
can be mentioned concerning them. 
The Polyantha. Roses, chiefly ramblers and frequently double, 
though double and single are represented, now form a strong 
feature of modem exhibitions, and this was no exception to 
the show on the Thame® Embankment. They are admirably 
adapted for garden decoration in a great variety of ways, so 
that we are not surprised that they should be becoming popular 
year by year. 
Some of the single Rose® of other types are really very 
handsome, and one can only regret that they are generally so: 
fragile. One of the older ones of this class we should mention 
is R. macranfha, considered to' be a hybrid of gallica x canina. 
Another extremely handsome Rose of the largest size is R. 
laevigata Anemone, doubtfully considered a hybrid of laevigata 
x indica, The trouble with this Rose is that it is somewhat 
tender. A hybrid brier named Lina., with large white flowers, 
is very handsome, and makes one wish for others of a-similar 
character. We have more than once expressed surprise that 
SO' little use has been, made of our native wild Roses, with thei 
exception of Ayrshire Roses, Scotch Roses, and the Sweetbriers. 
There are several very handsome forms of the wild Dog-Rose, 
including R. canina. lutetiana, R. c. dumalis, R. C. dumetorum. 
and an albino of this latter, which is really very handsome. 
The white-flowered R. stylosa and R, mollis: might be utilised 
for garden purposes. 
Ornithogalum arabicum. 
(See Supplement.) 
The above species of Star of Bethlehem is not so common in 
gardens 1 at the present day as its singular beauty should 
warrant. It is: not quite so hardy as the common Star of 
Bethlehem, and probably that account® for its. comparative 
scarcity in gardens. To' grow it. successfully it requires to- be 
grown, in a, greenhouse. Sometimes greater heat may be em¬ 
ployed in developing the flower-spikes, but it cannot, possibly 
be for it® advantage, as the flowers rapidly reach their fullest 
development, and then fade away when the temperature is 
unduly high. It is a native of the Mediterranean Region ex¬ 
tending from Spain to' Greece' and Egypt, and was introduced to 
this country from the latter in 1629. It will thus be seen 
that its beauty attracted cultivators at a time when there was 
no particular ra.gq for novelties and rare things. These 
countries being its home, it may be taken for granted that 
a high temperature is unnecessary. 
The individual flower® are about 2 in. to 2-Jr in. in diameter, 
and are pure: white, with a. veiy conspicuous black ovary, which 
gives much the impression of a jewel in a setting of silver. 
The raceme is globular or corymbose in outline, and 3 in. to 
5 in. in diameter. It is described as having from six to twelve 
flowers, but we had splendid racemes of it from Messrs. B. S. 
Williams: and Son, Upper Holloway, N., carrying twenty or 
more flowers and buds. The raceme does not elongate, as 
in the case of 0. arcuatum and 0. narbonense pyramidale. In 
the. earlier stages of its development the raceme forms a 
corymb, as in the case of 0. umbellatum. The outer’ flowers 
open first and gradually pass. out. of bloom, as those next above; 
them reach perfection. The uppermost flower’s are the: 
last to open, and by the time they are expanded the raceme 
is somewhat high in the centre, but yet not very different 
from its original shape. It will be noted also that there is 
no green central band on the back of the segments, as is 
characteristic of most of the familiar types of the genus. . 1 11 
this respect it resembles several of the South African speores, 
which also have a. beauty all their own that should encourage 
the cultivators to employ them more frequently' for greenhouse 
decoration. 
As. in tire case of otheir species of this group' of the Lib 
family, the rootstock is a tunicated bulb with scales similai 
to those of a Scilla. or Onion. Bulbs are now easily obtainab e. 
and all that, the cultivator- has to do is simply to grow them 
to the flowering stage, as in the case of Hyacinths and Tulips. 
