438 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 27. 1905. 
last of them has ceased to be in the person of Mr. William 
Paul, who outlived the Dean. 
The founders of the National Rose Show were able to' collect 
a sum of £200, and held their tirst National Rose Show on 
July 3rd, 1858. The Dean had the pleasure of giving away 
thirty-six Silver Cups to the winners at that first national 
show, and also presented two to- himself, of which he was very 
proud. From that time Rose shows proper became the order 
of the day, and continued for some time, till in the seventies 
rosarians were beginning to think that the Rose had fallen 
upon evil days. Roses continued to be shown in quantity, but 
the prevalent idea was that quantity rather than quality was 
the order of the day. Furthermore, it would appear that the 
Roses had been shown in a general way, all classes being mixed 
up together. It would seem that there was little, if any, order, 
classification or specialisation. 
With these facts in view a meeting was convened in Decem¬ 
ber, 1876, by the Rev. H. H. D’Ombrain, wlm issued invitations 
to a large number of rosarians, and himself having arrived at 
the place of meeting in good time, kept his eye upon those who 
entered the building. Judging from the number of people 
who were turning up, a large amount of interest was evidently 
centred in the Rose, and they would be able to> transact some¬ 
thing of importance on that occasion. Mi - . D’Ombrain’s 
spirits and anticipations rose as the well-known rosarians filed 
into the building, but he concluded that the cause was won on 
the appearance of Dean Hole. The result of that meeting was 
that the National Rose Society was established with the then 
Canon Hole as its first president, and the Rev. H. H. D’Ombrain 
as its secretary. 
In 1889 the Dean stated that the society had done its work 
since its establishment with consummate wisdom and zeal, not 
only in the case of the metropolitan exhibition, but in various 
towns and different parts of England. The first secretary con¬ 
tinued to act in this capacity until February, 1902, though he 
had been acting in conjunction with Mr. Edward Mawley for 
some time previous to his resignation owing to ill-health. The 
first president continued in that capacity until his death in 
August last. The president now is Mr. Charles E. Shea, and 
so the work and the society continue to live and prosper. 
At the Chiswick Rose Conference, the Rev. Dean Hole spoke 
in complimentary terms of the official list of Roses that had 
been published by the National Rose Society, together with a 
supplement, because he considered that such lists were good 
argument against the prevailing idea amongst the florists that 
rosarians cared only for exhibition blooms. 
For many years past the National Rose Society has been 
encouraging the cultivation of garden Roses as distinct from 
exhibition Roses proper, and this idea having once been estab¬ 
lished also continued to grow. Anyone who had the pleasure 
or disappointment of inspecting the show of the society at 
South Kensington in 1887 and the exhibition last year held in 
the Temple Gardens would have some fair idea of the immense 
improvement that has been brought about amongst garden 
Roses by comparison with those early times. Not merely was 
the cultivation of these Roses encouraged, but there has been 
a warm stimulus to the production of new varieties. Indeed, 
there seems to be a considerable amount of rivalry amongst 
the raisers of good decorative garden Roses as to who shall 
have the most and the best new varieties. 
The above is practically all past history, but the society con¬ 
tinues its work, and besides the official catalogues has issued 
several books on different phases of the cultivation of the Rose. 
One of the schemes it has in hand just now is an international 
fund as a memorial to perpetuate the memory of the late presi¬ 
dent of the National Rose Society. The first appeal brought 
forth evidence of the existence of a strong desire to get up a 
memorial not confined to the members of the N.R.S. but on 
a much enlarged basis, so that rosarians throughout the world 
who cherish the name and work of the late Dean Hole might 
contribute. 
The society therefore appeals to all lovers of the Rose for 
help to raise at least £500, which will be invested in the 
name of trustees appointed by the National Rose Society, who 
from the interest thereof will make awards of merit from time 
to time to persons who by cultural skill, research, literal y 
work and in any other way have done something for the 
advancement of the Rose worthy of special recognition. The 
awards will take the form of a. grant of money or a medal, and 
tills will be made irrespective of nationality. For the carry¬ 
ing out of this great scheme an appeal is made to rosarians in 
Britain, Ireland, Greater Britain, and to our American cousins 
and Continental friends. 
The annual report now issued contains matter which we 
published about, the time the annual meeting was held. It 
also gives a list of affiliated societies and the dates of their 
exhibitions. The list of members is now a very lengthy one. 
The winners of the Champion Challenge Trophies from 1881 
to 1904 have been listed, together with the names of the 
winners of the Gold Medal for new Roses since 1883 to 1904. 
The forthcoming show is to be held on July 6th in the Royal 
Botanic Gardens, Regent’s Park. • A brochure entitled “ The 
Royal Botanic Society of London ” accompanies the report, 
and is a neatly got up little work, freely illustrated with photo¬ 
graphs of scenes in various parts of the gardens of the R.B.S. 
These gardens are amongst the finest for the holding of a 
show in London, and had it been possible to transfer them to 
the Victoria Embankment on the banks of the Thames, the 
situation would have been perfect. As it is, we presume the 
forthcoming metropolitan exhibition will lie a memorable one, 
even if it does not eclipse that held last year in the Inner 
Temple Gardens 1 . 
The Japanese Iris. 
Iris japonica. 
(See Supplement}) 
Various names have been given to the above beautiful Iris, 
including I. chinensis and I. fimbriata. All are more or less 
appropriate, but the correct name is that given at the top of 
this note. The species is really a native of Japan and North 
China., from whence it would seem to have been imported on 
several different occasions, but the botanist who first named it 
found it in Japan. 
The chief value of the species is its early flowering habit, as 
it may be said to< bloom in winter and early spring, but being 
a little tender it lias to be grown under glass. It is more than 
probable that it could be successfully grown under a variety of 
conditions and temperatures, but the flowers are as fragile and 
delicate as they are finely fringed and beautifully coloured. 
For this reason it will always have to' be grown under glass, but 
at that period flowers are SO' scarce in the house that a. beau¬ 
tiful, finely fringed, deliciously scented and otherwise interest¬ 
ing plant should find a. home in every garden where flowers 
are desired during the dull months of the year. 
The falls are of a delicate soft lavender, with a. rich orange 
blotch on the centre, surrounded by an arched line of blue 
spots, and slightly toothed on the edges. The standards have 
no blotch, but are otherwise similar to the falls. The style 
arms are also lavender, and their crests are deeply fringed, and 
suggest the name I. fimbriata sometimes given this Iris. The 
fringes are often of considerable length, say l in. to J in. long. 
The flowers measure 2 in. to 3 in. across, and are produced in 
branching cymes, opening in succession over a considerable 
period of time. Each individual bloom lasts about two days, 
and gives off a delicious odour which we can only compare to 
that of the Primrose, but stronger, especially if there is mois¬ 
ture in the house. The leaves are sword-shaped, sufficiently 
soft in' texture to. arch over in a graceful manner, bright green, 
and produced in two ranks, much the same as in the German 
Iris. 
This, however, is altogether a. more refined plant in every 
way, including flowers, foliage, colour, marking and the 
delicately fringed character of the crests terminating the style 
aims. Our supplementary illustration was prepared frpm a 
