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three rows of rose trees, which should be planted so as to form two banks of roses in this manner: the back row should be of low standards, 3 feet in height; the middle row, standards 2 feet 6 inches high; and the row next the path, dwarf standards 2 feet high. When the trees are in full foliage and flower, a perfect bank of beauty is formed; for, owing to the favourable climate, the trees grow with a vigour scarcely conceivable.

Previous to planting, the borders should have a dressing of manure 6 inches thick, which should be well mixed with the soil to a depth of 2 feet. I have been induced to suggest this mode of culture for Tea-scented Roses, owing to my having planted, in December 1862, a border in one of my span-roofed orchard houses with low standards of the most choice varieties of this beautiful group. I have never, in the whole course of my experience, seen anything in rose culture so beautiful and so gratifying: for during the whole of the month of May 1863 not only their flowers but their large beautiful leaves, unscathed by frost, wind, or rain, were a source of untiring gratification. No artificial heat was employed, so that the air was always pure and most agreeable. In a house of this description, Tea-scented Roses will bloom beautifully from May till November; but in spring and autumn-say in May and part of June, and again in September and October--they will be in the greatest perfection. In June,

July, and August, the ventilators should be open night and day in calm weather, and closed only to exclude violent wind.

Raising Varieties from Seed.

With attention, some very beautiful roses of this family may be originated from seed; but, the plants must be trained against a south wall, in a warm, dry soil, or grown in pots, under glass: a warm greenhouse, or the orchard house, will be most proper for them, so that they bloom in May, as their hips are a long time ripening.

For yellow roses, Vicomtesse de Cazes may be planted with and fertilised by Canary, which abounds in pollen; some fine roses, almost to a certainty, must be raised from seed produced by such a union: for the sake of curiosity, a few flowers of the latter might be fertilised with the Double Yellow Briar, or Rosa Harrisonii. The Old Yellow Tea Rose bears seed abundantly; but it has been found, from repeated experiments, that a good or even a mediocre rose is seldom or never produced from it; but fertilised with the Yellow Briar, something original may be realised. Souvenir d'un Ami and Adam would produce seed of fine quality, from which large and bright rosecoloured varieties might be expected. Niphetos would give pure white Tea Roses; and Gloire de Dijon fertilised with Safrano would probably

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originate first-rate fawn-coloured roses; but the central petals of the latter should be carefully removed with tweezers or pliers, as its flowers are too double for it to be a certain seed-bearer.

THE MINIATURE ROSE.

(ROSA LAWRENCEANA.)

In the botanical catalogues this curious little rose is said to have been introduced from China in 1810, and botanists have made it a species; but, like the Rose de Meaux and Pompon Roses, which are dwarf varieties of Rosa centifolia, this is undoubtedly nothing but a dwarf seminal variety of the Common China Rose. Many plants that have been long under cultivation have a tendency to produce from seed these pigmy likenesses of themselves among these little faerie queens,' Gloire des Lawrenceanas is one of the prettiest of the tribe; its flowers are of a dark crimson, and larger than those of any other variety. La Desirée and Pompon Bijou are both of them bright coloured and pretty roses. Pallida is the only variety in this division approaching to white. Its flowers, when they first open, are nearly of pure white, but they soon change to a pale fleshcolour; this is rather a delicate rose, seeming very impatient of cold and damp.

These roses are all very impatient of moisture, and in all moist soils require a very dry, warm, raised border. I have not yet had an opportunity of seeing them grow in dry soils; but I think it probable that the light sandy soils of Surrey would suit them admirably. In cold situations it will be advisable to grow them constantly in pots, protecting them in a cold pit or frame till January, and then, if required to bloom early, remove them to a warm situation in the greenhouse, or force them with the Tea-scented Roses. A collection of these little rose-bushes, covered with their bright flowers in March and April, will be found one of the most eligible and unique ornaments for the drawing-room.

THE NOISETTE ROSE.

(ROSA NOISETTIANA.)

Rosier Noisette,

THE original of this remarkable group, the 'Blush Noisette' Rose, was raised from seed in America by Monsieur Philippe Noisette, and sent by him to his brother, Monsieur Louis Noisette, the wellknown nurseryman at Paris, in the year 1817. Perhaps no new rose was ever so much admired as this. When first introduced its habit was so peculiar, and so unlike any other known variety,

that the Parisian amateurs were quite enraptured with it. It was produced from the seed of the old Musk Rose (Rosa moschata), the flowers of which had been fertilised with the Common China Rose.

The perfume of the Musk Rose is very apparent in the Noisette Rose its tendency to bloom in large clusters also shows its affinity to that old and very remarkable sort; but since its introduction to France so many seedlings have been raised from it, and so many of these are evidently hybrids of the Tea-scented and other roses, that some of the roses called Noisettes' have almost lost the characters of the group; for in proportion as the size of the flowers has been increased by hybridising, their clustering tendency, and the number of them in one corymb, has been diminished.

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Since the introduction of so many beautiful autumnal roses of other families, Noisette Roses have declined in favour; there are, however, still a few distinct and pretty varieties quite worthy of being retained in the rose-garden. The two pretty white roses, Aimée Vibert and Miss Glegg, the latter slightly tinted with rose, are among them; they are both dwarf and compact in their habits, and form pretty bushes. Jeanne d'Arc, a pure white rose of a vigorous habit, and a nice pillar rose, is also worthy of culture.

Fellenberg and Octavie are two pretty crimson roses, and Vicomtesse d'Avesne is a very neat

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