the other summer roses make their

appearance;

this, of course, makes them desirable appendages to the flower garden. They bear seed profusely; and raising new varieties from seed will be found a most interesting employment. To do this, all that is required, is to sow the seed as soon as ripe, in October, in pots or beds of fine earth, covering it with nearly one inch of mould; the succeeding spring they will come up, and bloom in perfection the season following.

With the exception of La Cenomane, Painted Lady, and the True Yellow, all the Scotch roses bear seed most abundantly; if this seed is sown indiscriminately numerous varieties may be raised, and many of them very interesting; but the aim should be to obtain varieties with large and very double crimson flowers: this can only be done by slightly hybridising, and to effect this it will be necessary to have a plant or two of the Tuscany, and one of Superb Tuscany, or La Majestueuse, trained to a south wall, so that their flowers are expanded at the same time as the Scotch roses in the open borders; unless thus forced they will be too late. Any dark red varieties of the Scotch roses, such as Venus, Atro Rubra, or Flora, should be planted separately from others, and their flowers fertilised with the above French roses; some very original deep-coloured varieties will probably be obtained by this method. Sulphurea and one or

two other straw-coloured varieties may be planted with the double yellow Austrian Briar, and most likely some pretty sulphur-coloured roses will be the result of this combination.

THE SWEET BRIAR.

(ROSA RUBIGINOSA.)

Who knows not the Sweet Briar? the Eglantine, that plant of song, the rhyme of which jingles so prettily, that nearly all our poets, even love-stricken rustics, have taken advantage of its sweet sound.

"I will give to my love the Eglantine," has been often the beginning of a country lover's song; but in sober truth, every one must love this simplest and sweetest of flowers, for what odour can surpass that emanating from a bush of Sweet Briar in the dewy evenings of June? It pleases not the eye, for the single Sweet Briar bears flowers, in comparison with other roses, quite inconspicuous; but it gratifies in a high degree by its delicious perfume, and gives to the mind most agreeable associations, for it is so often (at least in Hertfordshire) the inhabitant of the pretty English cottage garden -such a garden as one sees nowhere but in

England. The Single Sweet Briar is a native plant, growing in dry and chalky soils in some of the southern counties; from it the following varieties, with some others, have been originated, more or less hybridised. The Cluster Sweet Briar, with semi-double rosy lilac flowers. The Celestial, a beautiful little rose, with flowers very double and fragrant, of the palest flesh-colour, approaching to white. Hessoise, or Petite Hessoise, is a pretty French hybrid, with bright rose-coloured flowers, and leaves not so fragrant as some others. The Monstrous Sweet Briar is a very old variety, with large and very double flowers, distinct and good. Maiden's Blush and Manning's Blush are both double and pretty, with fragrant leaves like the original. Rose Angle Sweet Briar is a new variety raised from seed by Mr. Martyn of Rose Angle near Dundee: this produces large and very double flowers of a bright rose colour; its foliage is also very fragrant. The Splendid Sweet Briar is really a splendid rose, with large light crimson flowers, but its foliage is not very fragrant. The Scarlet, or la Belle Distinguée, or Lee's Duchess, or la Petite Duchesse, for they are one and the same, is a pretty bright red, small, and compact rose, very distinct and good, but its leaves are entirely scentless.

Sweet Briars form a pretty group, interesting

from their origin and associations, and pleasing from their fragrance and peculiar neatness; they make also pretty trees, particularly on

66

petites tiges," as the French term them: they require the same culture as the other hardy

A

roses.

Humble as are the claims of the Sweet Briar when contrasted with the gorgeous beauty of some of our new roses, yet it is so decidedly English, that raising new varieties from seed will I am sure be found interesting.

The Scarlet may be planted with the Splendid Briar, which so abounds in pollen that fertilising will be found very easy. The Carmine with the semi-doubled Scarlet will also give promising seed; the beauty of their flowers might be increased by hybridising with some of the French roses, but then their Sweet Briar-like character would be lost, and with that a great portion of their interest.

The Hybrid China Rose, Riego, if planted with the Splendid Briar, would produce seed from which large and very fragrant double roses might be expected, and these would partake largely of the character of the Sweet Briar.

THE AUSTRIAN BRIAR.

(ROSA LUTEA.)

The Austrian Briar, a native of the South of Europe, is found on the hills of the North of Italy, producing copper or red, as well as yellow flowers; but, strange to say, though the flowers are invariably single, yet they never produce seed. In this country also it is with extreme difficulty, and only by fertilising its flowers, that seed can be perfected; if the flowers are examined they will all be found deficient in pollen, which accounts for this universal barrenness. A Double Copper Austrian Briar is yet a desideratum.

The Copper or Red Austrian, the Capucine of the French, is a most singular rose; the inside of each petal is of a bright copper red, the outside inclining to sulphur; this rose is most impatient of a smoky atmosphere, and will not put forth a single bloom within ten or twelve miles of London. The Double Yellow, or William's Double Yellow Sweet Briar, is a pretty double rose, raised from the Single Yellow Austrian by Mr. Williams of Pitmaston a few years since; this blooms more freely than the original species, and is a most desirable variety. Rosa Harrisonii is also a double yellow rose, said to have been raised from seed