Before we skim their cream as garden Roses, let us remember with admiration the ancestral cow. For who shall despise those old China Roses, which have brightened more than any other flower our English homes, smiling through our cold and sunless days like the brother born for adversity, and winning from the foreigner, as much perhaps as any of our graces, this frequent praise, "Your land is the garden of the world." The Frenchman, for example, as I can remember him in my boyhood, who had been travelling on the straight, flat, hedgeless, turfless roads of France, in a torpid, torrid, dusty diligence, was in an ecstasy as he sat upon the Dover mail, and went smoothly and cheerily, 10 miles per hour, through the meadows and the orchards, the hop-yards and the gardens of Kent. But nothing pleased him more than the prettiness of the wayside cottage, clothed with the Honeysuckle and the China Rose, and fragrant with Sweet-Brier, Wallflower, Clove, and Stock.

I may not urge the restoration of this village beauty to the modern Rose-garden, but in the mixed garden and in the shrubbery the constant brave "old Monthly," the last to yield in winter, the first to bloom in spring, is still deserving of a place. He, at all events, is no more a rosar-ian who sees no beauty in this rose, than he a florist who does not love the meanest flower which grows. Nor must he neglect some other old favourites in this family - such as Cramoisie Superieure, honestly named, glowing and brilliant as any of our crimson Roses, and forming a charming bed, or edging of a bed, especially in the autumn - and Mrs Bosanquet, always fair, and good as beautiful, the same, like a true lady, in an exalted or a low estate, on a standard or on the ground, alone or in group, composed, graceful, not having one of its pale pink delicate petals out of place. Both of these Roses thrive well in pots, but they are most attractive, I think, on their own roots out of doors, in a bed of rich light mellow loam, pruned according to vigour of growth, and pegged down when their shoots are supple, so as to present an uniform surface.

When speaking of the Moss Rose generally, I anticipated the little which I had to say of the Moss Perpetual (p. 202), and, passing on to the Damask Perpetual, have but two Roses to commend, and these only where space is unlimited and the love of Roses voracious. A tender sadness comes to me thus speaking of them, a melancholy regret, as when one meets in mid - life some goddess of our early youth, and, out upon Time! she has no more figure than a lighthouse, and almost as much crimson in her glowing countenance as there is in its revolving light; and we are as surprised and disappointed as was Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe when he met Mrs Siddons at Abbotsford, and "she ate boiled beef, and swilled porter, and took snuff, and laughed till she made the whole room shake again." I do not mean that these Perpetual Damasks are too robust and ruddy, but that they charm us no more as when Mr Lee of Hammersmith introduced Rose du Roi to a delighted public, and the Comte, who presided over the gardens in which the Rose was raised at St Cloud, resigned his office in disgust because the flower was not named after himself, Lelieur. A most ungracious act, seeing that it was by the King's (Louis XVIII.) desire that the Rose had its royal title, and that the honour of originating the variety was due (no uncommon case) to Suchet the foreman, and not to Lelieur, the chef.

Mogador, which was subsequently raised from Rose du Roi, was a decided improvement, and is still very effective in a bed, from its vivid crimson tints; but very few of those amateurs, who may pay me the compliment of furnishing their rosaries with the varieties which I commend the most, will, I think, have room, when I have completed my catalogue, for the Damask Perpetual Rose.

It can vie no more with that section, the most perfect and extensive of all, which we will next consider, so far as its garden Roses are concerned - viz., the Hybrid Perpetual. Two of our most fastidious rosarians, ejecting from a select list every flower which has not some special excellence, give us the names of 120 varieties as being sans reproche. "I have inserted in this list," says Mr Rivers, "Roses only, whether new or old, that are distinct, good, and, above all, free and healthy in their growth; the flowers are all of full size, fine shape, and perfection in colour; in short, any variety selected from it even at random will prove good and well worthy of cultivation." "Roses suitable for Exhibition" is the heading of Mr George Paul's list; and no exhibitor has proved so oft or so convincingly a knowledge of what to show, and how to show it. But I am anticipating this part of my subject, and, returning to our garden Roses, recommend the following selection: Anna Alexieff, Auguste Mie, Baronne Prevost, Caroline de Sansales, Duchesse de Cambaceres, Duchess of Norfolk, Duchess of Sutherland, Eugene Appert, General Jacqueminot, Oriflamme de St Louis, Souvenir de la Reine d'Angleterre, and Triomphe de l'Exposition, which have been already described as Pillar Roses (p. 147-49), and are equally praiseworthy upon the standard or the bush.

Of these Baronne Prevost and General Jacqueminot make magnificent beds upon their own roots, and so does Geant des Batailles, who, though no longer, as I remember him, commander-in-chief, is still a handsome and efficient aide-de-camp. To these I must add Alphonse Damaizin, a rich deep-crimson Rose; Charles Margottin, bright carmine, all but an exhibition Rose; Anna de Diesbach, one of our largest, loveliest Roses, quite a necessity in every garden, and generally included among show Roses, but somewhat too deficient in the number of its pink petals to endure the ordeal; Duke of Edinburgh, a glorious flower, holding his own with any of the Jacqueminot tribe on the tree, but succumbing rapidly to heat; Mademoiselle Bonnaire, very precious for its delicate colouring, white deepening to a central pink, and passing fair in the bud, but too small for the censor; Madame Hector Jacquin, of exquisite form, its petals, silvery rose, overlapping each other with a regular and perfect grace, but not enduring much heat or locomotion; Madame Knorr, an excellent and reliable tree-rose, bright pink, and prettily shaped, but soon losing its freshness; and Triomphe de Paris, valuable as a very early bloomer, and a handsome purple crimson Rose.

Of the Bourbons, although two only now attain public honours, there are several which are valuable additions to a general collection of Roses. Acidalie is extremely pretty, nearly white, and blooming bountifully in a genial season, when other Roses are scarce, that is, in the later autumn. Although it grows vigorously both upon stocks and per se, when the soil and the summer are propitious, it is but a fine-weather sailor, and, "like that love which has nothing but beauty to keep it in good health, is short-lived, and apt to have ague-fits." I advise the amateur, consequently, to remember Acidalie in the budding season, so that he may always have a duplicate in reserve. Armosa is a charming little Rose, neat in form, and bright pink in complexion. Bouquet de Flore, an old favourite, still claims a place for its carmine flowers; and Catherine Guillot, with Louise Odier, having both the beauty and the family likeness of Lawrence's "lovely sisters," are as two winsome maids-of-honour in waiting upon the Bourbon Queen - dethroned, it is true, by more potent rivals, but still asking our loyal love for its sweet, abundant, fawn-coloured flowers.

The Rev. H. Dombrain, in the flesh, is a true rosarian, a trusty, genial writer, an accomplished florist, as all florists know; and in the flower he is one of our best Bourbon Roses. Not so beautiful, of course, as his daughter, Marguerite Dombrain (of whom more anon), but an early, reliable, vigorous, bright carmine Rose. Were the Roses sentient, as I sometimes think they are, this one would have their special regard and honour. Mr Dombrain has been, as it were, the consul for French Roses in England, and more than any other man has made known the merits of the new-comers, and so insured for them a kindly welcome.

Of the Tea Roses, those which are hardy are suitable for exhibition, and none of them, except Gloire de Bourdeaux, which has more of the Noisette character, and which has been described at p. 148, can be considered as garden Roses. Madame Falcot and Safrano would be valuable additions," but they only withstand our severest winters in southern or sheltered localities.

Of the Noisette, Jaime Desprez, Lamarque, and Solfaterre, have been selected as Climbing or Pillar Roses, and have been previously discussed. They are available as standards also, the best for that purpose being Solfaterre. I have found Narcisse to be hardy in all winters save that of 1860-1; and its lovely Roses, white, deepening to a Primrose centre, claim a place in every rosarium. The time will soon be here when Celine Forestier and Triomphe de Rennes will take their place, a high one, among garden Roses, but in our present scarcity of yellow flowers they are valuable as exhibition varieties.

And now, my reader, as when eating our strawberries in early youth, boys by their mothers', girls by their fathers' sides, we reserved the largest to the last; or as when, in later years, we loved something more dearly even than strawberries - making with the Yorkshire rustic our tender confession, "I loikes poi, Mary; but, oh Mary, I loikes you better nor poi" - we, meeting in mixed company, reserved for our beloved the final fond farewell, or meeting, not in mixed company, found that the sweetest which was, alas! the parting kiss; even so have I reserved for my conclusive chapter the Roses which I love the best - those Roses which are chosen for their more perfect beauty, like the fairest maidens at some public fete, to represent the sisterhood before a wondering world.

S. Reynolds Hole.