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

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 Williams'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 in America, and sent from thence to this country, about four years since; but this origin is very doubtful, as I can almost vouch for a certainty, that the original plant of Rosa Harrisonii is in England, in the garden where it was originated from seed, and this original plant is now, according to appearance, about eight or nine years old. It is a more robust grower than the Double Yellow Sweet Briar; its flowers also are a little larger, and do not fade so soon. The Single Yellow is the most brilliant yellow rose we yet possess; and it will probably be the parent of some double varieties, its equal in colour.

To bloom them in perfection, Austrian Briars require a moist soil, and dry pure air; but little manure is necessary, as they grow freely in any tolerably good and moist soil; neither do they require severe pruning, but merely the strong shoots shortened, and most of the twigs left on the plant, as they, generally, produce flowers in great abundance.

THE DOUBLE YELLOW ROSE.

(ROSA SULPHURea.)

The origin of this very old and beautiful rose, like that of the Moss Rose, seems lost in obscurity. In the botanical catalogues, it is made a species, said to be a native of the Levant*, and never to have been seen in a wild state

* Introduced to our gardens in 1629.

bearing single flowers. It is passing strange, that this double rose should have been always considered a species. Nature has never yet given us a double flowering species to raise single flowering varieties from; but exactly the reverse. We are compelled, therefore, to consider the parent of this rose to be a species bearing single flowers. If this single flowering species was a native of the Levant, our botanists, ere now, would have discovered its habitats: I cannot help, therefore, suggesting, that to the gardens of the east of Europe we must look for the origin of this rose; and to the Single Yellow Austrian Briar (Rosa lutea), as its parent: though that, in a state of nature, seldom if ever bears seed, yet, as I have proved, it will, if its flowers are fertilised. I do not suppose that the gardeners of the East knew of this, now common, operation; but it probably was done by some accidental juxta-position, and thus, by mere chance, one of the most remarkable and beautiful of roses was originated. From its foliage having acquired a glaucous pubescence, and its shoots a greenish yellow tinge, in those respects much unlike the Austrian Briar, I have sometimes been inclined to impute its origin to that rose, fertilised with a double or semi-double variety of the Damask Rose, for that is also an eastern plant.

As yet, we have but two roses in this division; the Double Yellow, or "Yellow Provence," with large globular and very double bright yellow flowers, and the Pompone Jaune, or dwarf Double Yellow, both excessively shy of producing full-blown flowers, though they grow in any moderately good soil with great luxuriance, and show an abundance of flower-buds; but some "worm i' the bud" generally causes them to fall off prematurely. To remedy this, various situations have been recommended: some have said, plant it against a south wall; others, give it a northern aspect, under the drip of some water-trough, as it requires a wet situation. All this is quackery and nonsense. The Yellow Provence Rose is a native of a warm climate, and

therefore requires a warm situation, a free airy exposure, and rich soil.

At Burleigh, the seat of the Marquis of Exeter, the effect of situation on this rose is forcibly shown. A very old plant is growing against the southern wall of the mansion, in a confined situation, its roots cramped by a stone pavement; it is weakly, and never shows a flower-bud. In the entrance court is another plant, growing in front of a low parapet wall, in a good loamy soil and free airy exposure; this is in a state of the greatest luxuriance, and blooms in fine perfection nearly every season.

Mr. Mackintosh, the gardener, who kindly pointed out these plants to me, thought the latter a distinct and superior variety, as it was brought from France by a French cook, a few years since; but it is certainly nothing but the genuine old Double Yellow Rose.

In unfavourable soils it will often flourish, and bloom freely, if budded on the Musk Rose, the Common China Rose, or the Blush Boursault; but the following pretty method of culture, I beg to suggest, though I must confess I have not yet tried it. Bud or graft it on some short stems of the Dog Rose; in the autumn, pot some of the strongest plants, and, late in spring, force them with a gentle heat, giving plenty of air. By this method the dry and warm climate of Florence and Genoa may, perhaps, be partially imitated; for there it blooms in such profusion, that large quantities of its magnificent flowers are daily sold in the markets during the rose season.

CLIMBING ROSES.

DIVISION FIRST. THE AYRSHIRE ROSE. (ROSA ARVENSIS HYBRIDA.)

It is the opinion of some cultivators, that the varieties of the Ayrshire Rose have been originated from the Rosa arvensis, or creeping single White Rose of our woods and hedges. But this is contradicted by botanists, who assert, that the original Ayrshire Rose was raised in Scotland from foreign rose seed: it may have been; but to judge from its habit, I feel no hesitation in asserting, that it is merely a seedling hybrid from our Rosa arvensis, having acquired much additional vigour, as all hybrid roses nearly invariably do, from some accidental impregnation: perhaps no rose can be more luxuriant than this; for the Single Ayrshire, and that Semi-double variety, known as the Double White, will often make shoots in one season, twenty to thirty feet in length. Several of our prettiest varieties have been raised from seed by Mr. Martin, of Rose Angle, Dundee; but the first in the Catalogue, the Ayrshire Queen, the only dark Ayrshire Rose known, was originated by myself in 1835, from the Blush Ayrshire, impregnated with the Tuscany Rose. But one seed germinated, and the plant produced has proved a complete hybrid. Its flowers are of the same shape, and not more double than those of the Blush Ayrshire, its female parent; but they have all the dark purplish crimson of the Tuscany Rose. It has lost a portion of the vigorous climbing habit of the Ayrshire, but yet makes an excellent pillar Till we can get a dark Ayrshire Rose, double as a Ranunculus, it will be acceptable. The Double Blush, or Double Red, of some catalogues, is a pretty early rose, a vigorous climber, and as a standard, forms a beautiful

rose.

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