small central petals just before their flowers are expanded, and fertilising them with pollen from Fabvier or Henry the Fifth, would give seed; and, as the object ought to be in this family to have large flowers with brilliant colours and plants of hardy robust habits, no better union can be formed. China Roses, if blooming in an airy greenhouse, will often produce fine seed; by fertilising their flowers it may probably be ensured. In addition, therefore, to those planted against a wall, some strong plants of the above varieties should be grown in pots in the greenhouse.

THE TEA-SCENTED CHINA ROSE.

(ROSA INDICA ODORATA.)

The original Rosa odorata, or Blush Teascented Rose, has long been a favourite. This pretty variation of the China Rose was imported from China in 1810; from hence it was sent to France, where, in combination with the yellow China or Tea Rose, it has been the fruitful parent of all the splendid varieties we now possess. Mr. Parkes introduced the yellow variety from China in 1824; and even now, though so many fine varieties have been raised, but few surpass it in the size and beauty of its flowers, semi-double as they are; it has but a very slight tea-like scent,

but its offspring have generally a delicious fragrance, which I impute to their hybridisation with Rosa odorata. In France the yellow Tea Rose is exceedingly popular, and in the summer and autumn months hundreds of plants are sold in the flower markets of Paris, principally worked on little stems or "mi-tiges." They are brought to market in pots, with their heads partially enveloped in coloured paper in such an elegant and effective mode, that it is scarcely possible to avoid being tempted to give two or three francs for such a pretty object. In the fine climate of Italy Tea-scented Roses bloom in great perfection during the autumn : our late autumnal months are often too moist and stormy for them, but in August they generally flower in England very beautifully. I was much impressed in the autumn of 1835 with the effects of climate on these roses; for in a small enclosed garden at Versailles I saw, in September, hundreds of plants of yellow Tea Roses covered with ripe seeds and flowers. The French cultivators say that it very rarely produces a variety worth notice. The culture of Tea-scented Roses is quite in its infancy in this country, but surely no class more deserves care and attention; in calm weather, in early autumn, their large and fragrant flowers are quite unique, and add much to the variety and beauty of the autumnal rose garden.

Among the most distinct varieties known to

be worth culture, for many new Tea-roses from France will not flourish in our climate, are the following:

Aurore, an old but fine rose, a hybrid of the yellow China and Rosa odorata, and partaking of both, for its flowers are, when first open, of a delicate straw colour, soon changing to blush. Belle Hélène is a pale variety of the original Tea Rose, with flowers larger and more double; a distinct and good rose. Caroline, a pretty rose, with flowers very double, of a bright rose colour, and very perfect in their shape. Flon is a new and beautiful rose, a sort of fawncoloured blush; its flowers very large and fragrant. Fragrans, one of our oldest varieties, is but a very slight remove from the crimson China, but it has acquired, by being hybridised, the pleasing perfume of this family. Goubault is a most excellent rose, as it is remarkahly robust and hardy, and will probably form a fine standard. Hardy, or Gloire de Hardy, is a most superb vivid rose of the largest size, of most luxuriant growth, and well calculated for a standard; this will be one of our popular Tea Roses. Hamon is also a very fine rose, but rather too delicate for the open borders: this is a changeable variety; sometimes its flowers are blush tinged with buff, and sometimes, when forced, they are of a deep crimson. Lyonnais is a very large pale flesh-coloured rose, hardy, and

worthy he attention of the amateur. Mansais is a rose in colour something like Noisette Jaune Desprez, but not constantly so; this is a fine rose, but I cannot yet pronounce whether it is hardy or otherwise.* Odoratissima is a very freegrowing and pretty lilac rose, more than ordinarily fragrant, and apparently very hardy. Palavicini has been much admired and also much depreciated, owing to the different appearances it has taken under cultivation. On its own roots, and in a weak state, it is poor and insignificant, looking like a bad variety of the yellow China Rose; but when budded on a strong branch of the Common China or the Blush Boursault, it will bloom in a splendid manner, so as to appear quite a different rose: a branch budded a few years ago, and blooming very finely on the wall of the council room at the Horticultural Society, attracted much attention. I believe it is of Italian origin, as many fine Tea-scented and China Roses are raised from seed annually in Italy, but not distributed. Princesse Marie is one of the finest roses in this group. I saw this variety blooming in Paris in June (1837), in greater perfection than any other Tea Rose: its flowers were from four to five inches in diameter. Pactolus is a yellow rose, of a pale sulphur, approaching to a bright yellow in the centre of the flower: this

* This proves to be as hardy as the most robust of the Tea Roses,

proves robust and hardy, and one of the best yellow Tea Roses known. Rêve du bonheur is a singularly beautiful tinged rose, forming a fine large cup, but not very double. Silène is a robust and hardy variety, with large shaded red and blush flowers, very double: this will make a fine standard, and grow in any situation. Strombio is now an old rose, but no variety can be more deserving of cultivation; when growing on a standard, its large and pendulous cream-coloured flowers are quite beautiful. Taglioni is a full sized, fine white rose, shaded with blush towards its centre, and a hardy and good variety. Triomphe du Luxembourg has made some noise in Paris; in the autumn of 1835 it was sold at thirty or forty francs per plant; it does not bloom quite so fine in this country as in France, but under any circumstances it is a fine and distinct variety: its colour is rose very peculiarly tinged with yellowish buff. The yellow Tea or yellow China Rose, for they are one and the same, is placed here, as it has decidedly more of the habit and appearance of the Tea-scented Rose than of the China: its smooth glossy leaves and faint odour of tea sufficiently show its affinity.

To these some new varieties of extraordinary beauty have been added, among which Elisa Sauvage, a fine straw-coloured rose, of rather a deeper tinge than the Yellow Tea, with flowers very large and double, richly deserves cultivation.