been very industrious, and, as a matter of course, have originated some very beautiful and striking varieties, and also, as usual in such cases, have given us rather too many distinct and fine-sounding names attached to flowers without distinctive characters. In a little time we shall be able to rectify this very common floricultural error. Many fables have been told by the French respecting the origin of this rose. The most generally received version of one of these is, that a French naval officer was requested by the widow of a Monsieur Edouard, residing in the island, to find, on his voyage to India, some rare rose, and that, on his return to L'Ile de Bourbon, he brought with him this rose, which she planted on her husband's grave: it was then called Rose Edouard, and sent to France as "Rose de L'Ile de Bourbon." This is pretty enough, but entirely devoid of truth. Monsieur Bréon, a French botanist, and now a seedsman in Paris, gives the following account, for the truth of which he vouches : "At the Isle of Bourbon, the inhabitants generally enclose their land with hedges made of two rows of roses, one row of the Common China Rose, the other of the Red Four-Seasons. sieur Perichon, a proprietor at Saint Benoist, in the Isle, in planting one of these hedges, found amongst his young plants one very different from the other in its shoots and foliage. This induced him to plant it in his garden. It flowered the

Mon

*

,

following year: and, as he anticipated, proved to be of quite a new race, and differing much from the above two roses, which, at the time, were the only sorts known in the island. Monsieur Bréon arrived at Bourbon in 1817, as botanical traveller for the government of France, and curator of the Botanical and Naturalization Garden there. He propagated this rose very largely; and sent plants and seeds of it, in 1822, to Monsieur Jacques gardener at the Château de Neuilly, near Paris, who distributed them among the rose cultivators of France." M. Bréon named it "Rose de L'Ile de Bourbon ;" and is convinced that it is a hybrid from one of the above roses, and a native of the island. Owing to the original being a hybrid, the roses of this family vary much in their characters; most of them form compact bushes, and are nicely adapted for rose beds; others are so vigorous as to be eligible only for pillar and wall roses. The varieties, as in the preceding family, are by far too numerous; a selection divided into groups of colour, will I think, give all that my readers require.

* Whence the name often given to the Common Bourbon Rose of "Bourbon Jacques."

Dark Crimson.

Our old favourites, Paul Joseph and Dupetit Thouars still hold their rank in this class of colour; and Vorace, Jurie, Souvenir de l'Exposition, Reveil, and Adelaide Bougère,—the three latter remarkable for richness of colour,-are well worthy the attention of the rose amateur. Scipion and Charles Souchet are also fine dark roses, but in this class a new rose, La Quintinie, raised at St. Denis, is one of the finest of all; it is of the rich velvety hue of our old Hybrid George the Fourth, its flowers are large and finely shaped, and it is altogether a magnificent rose.

Light Crimson.

There are some nice roses in this range of colour, and among them Prince Albert, raised at Fontenay aux Roses, and introduced by Messrs. Paul; Surpasse Cornice de Seine et Marne, Aurore du Guide, with fine large globular flowers, Comte du Rambuteau and Souvenir de Dumont d'Urville, are worthy of selection. A new bright cherrycoloured rose, François Henrincq, is a fine variety ; it blooms in large corymbs, and is distinct and

beautiful.

Carmine.

This is a colour peculiar to Bourbon roses, and most beautiful it is; to these we owe all our fine

carmine Hybrid Perpetuals. Menoux is still one of the most vivid. Marquis de Moyria, Henri Lecoq, Justine, and Vicomte de Cussy, complete a group of most charming roses, all of nearly uniform growth, and calculated to form a pretty group.

Rose Coloured.

Our old favourites Bouquet de Flore, Edouard Desfosses, La Gracieuse, Le Florifere, Madame Margat, and Marianne, are still unrivalled; there are no new roses equal to them.

Blush and Flesh-coloured.

There is a peculiar silvery blush appertaining to Bourbon roses, very remarkable and pleasing. Anne Beluze and Charlemagne may be cited in proof of this, to these we may add Madame Nerard, old but still good, Marie Brécy, Manteau de Jean d'Arc, very pale, nearly white; and last but not least, Souvenir de la Malmaison, the finest of all delicate-coloured roses: we thus complete a distinct and beautiful group.

White.

Only one really good White Bourbon rose. exists at present, an old favourite and deservedly so, Acidalie; who that has seen this beautiful rose in fine calm weather in September, has been able to withhold intense admiration? Its large globular finely-shaped flowers of the purest white,

delicately tinted with purplish rose, seem always to be drooping with beauty. Yes, it is indeed unique and charming. Madame Angelina with cream-coloured flowers, and the Queen of the Bourbons with rose fawn-coloured flowers, are also quite unique in their colouring, and well worthy of cultivation.

There are a few Bourbon Roses, of remarkably vigorous habits, scarcely adapted for planting in beds, as all those above described are, such are Apolline, of a beautiful and glossy rose colour; Louise Odier, almost equal to Coupe d'Hebé in the shape of its bright rose-coloured flowers; Paxton, a vigorous grower, with flowers of the same colour; Imperatrice Josephine, with light blush flowers; Julie de Fontenelle, Le Grenadier, and Sully, all vigorous-growing crimson roses, and the finest of all for pillar roses. They will require the treatment recommended for summer pillar roses in p. 35. For light soils, these Bourbon pillar roses should be budded on the Manetti rose. For deep rich soils they will do very well on their own roots, or budded on dwarf stocks of the Dog Rose.

Culture.

All the varieties noticed in the foregoing pages as of moderate growth form beautiful bushes on their own roots, or budded on the Manetti or Celine stocks; they are also very beautiful as dwarf standards, i. e. on stems from eighteen