With what a sound of trumpets was this rose ushered upon the confiding florists. Its immense flowers, its vigorous growth and all its other good qualities were lauded to the very highest. We poor mortals thought a new creation far superior to anything ever heard of before had appeared among roses; but, alas, where is it? - with most of florists, crowded in some corner, covered with mildew, looking ashamed of itself.

By-the-by, do those who shouted its praises the most, grow it without mildew? If they do, would they give one loud shout as to how they do it, and relieve poor confiding florists like myself, who have a number of plants we are ashamed of seeing ourselves, much less letting others see.

Youngstown, O.

I notice that your correspondent, Mansfield Milton, like hundreds of others, is in bad humor with "Her Majesty," but no one here is to blame. Mr. Evans purchased the stock from Mr. Bennett in 1884, and if it was then in the same condition as I saw it on Mr. Bennett's grounds in England in 1885, he certainly was not to blame for giving it the extraordinary praise with which it washeralded, for, with all my long experience in such matters, its merits as seen there so impressed me that I did not wait to come home, but ordered from London direct one thousand plants from Robert Craig. This was my judgment in the matter, mistaken as it proved to be. In all Mr. Bennett's stock of some 10,000 plants, I did not see a speck of mildew on " Her Majesty," and although the weather was hot and dry the flowers shown were all that had been claimed for them. But it is evident " Her Majesty" will never reign in this democratic soil. She not alone besmears herself with mildew in a way that no other Rose ever did, but she seems absolutely to refuse to show her regal claim to beauty unless under the very best conditions. In the thousand plants that I got from Mr. Craig, only some five showed flower out of the whole lot. Almost any other Rose from such plants would have given 100 per cent. in flowers.

And she don't seem to " acclimatize " either. Fine plants grown here, though fairly free from mildew, show the same shyness in blooming, so that "Her Majesty's" reign, in America at least, may be said to be completely over. But we should not complain of being " bit " now and then, when it can be shown, as in this case, that it is not done to deceive, particularly when we know that in the William Francis Bennett Rose, sent out by the same raiser, we have a set-off that well balances the disappointment in '* Her Majesty," for our experience with the Bennett last winter, and up to the present time this winter, shows it to be by all odds the most profitable of all Roses grown for cut flowers in winter. Jersey City Heights, N. J., Jan. 5, 1887.

Failure Of Her Majesty Rose

At page 42, your correspondent, Mr. S. F. Ter-williger, asks if this rose ever grows, and is free of mildew. To the first question, I would say emphatically yes, it grows; with me it is by far the strongest growing rose I have ever seen. I have just pruned a house of it here, which had plenty of canes 14 to 16 feet long, grown since the 9th of January, last year, the date they were planted. They were then very small plants. Some few of these plants flowered, and grand flowers they were, too. The largest one I exhibited at the Spring show of the New York Horticultural Society measured 19 1/2 inches in circumference, and very fine in color considering the plant which bore it only landed in America on or about Christmas Day - a little over three months before the bloom was exhibited. These plants all grew in a very healthy way till we stopped firing; then, as abundance of air was left on the house during almost all kinds of weather, if mild, they very quickly began to get affected with mildew, and continued to be so during the entire season. But after careful consideration of this subject, I am somewhat inclined to think that the extreme change this rose was subjected to had something to do with this.

It must be borne in mind that these plants had probably never been subjected to any forcing at all in England, but as soon as they reached these hospitable shores they were made great pets of and immediately put into the warmest corners of every establishment where they were distributed to, and forced for all that was possible to do - so much so, that the rose did not get the slightest chance to become acclimatized. To show that I think there is considerable cause for mildew in this treatment, I kept a few plants cool during the winter, and in the spring when shipping other goods, I sent one customer in a Southwestern State, six of the original plants and six young ones which I propagated myself - all grafted plants. The original plants grew to be 12 to 15 feet high during the summer, and scarcely had any mildew the whole season; while the younger plants were very badly affected from the date of planting - so wrote my customer in November last; and although this may be an exceptional case, yet it goes to prove that the hard race to which this rose was subjected, had something to do with the bad character it has got for mildew.

The house in question, which I have today (February 12th) started, I shall treat all through just as I do all the other varieties of Hybrid Remontants, and if I succeed in making it bloom to my satisfaction, I will then give the readers of the Monthly opportunity to come and see it in its blooming state, due notice of which I will give them through the columns of this paper. If it is a failure, I will also be frank with your readers, and tell them so.

Your correspondent also asks if I will tell him why it is that the Bennett gives him so many nasty, dirty, purple buds at the same time, and on the same plants, that give the bright handsome ones. I have given this matter considerable thought all through this and last season, and can only account for it by the deficiency of some necessary element in the soil in which the plants are growing to produce the requisite coloring matter for all the buds at the same time, as the same thing often occurs in other bright-colored roses. Summit, N. J.