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, many 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 this has proved a pretty yellow rose; its flowers before expansion are globular, but a hot sun makes them expand and lose much of their beauty. It is a more robust grower than the Double Yellow Sweet Briar; its flowers are also 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.

A yellow rose has been given to us from that land of flowers, Persia.* This was introduced to the gardens of the Horticultural Society of London in 1838, and is now called the Persian Yellow Rose. In habit it is so exactly like the Single Yellow Austrian Briar as not to be distinguished from it: it grows readily budded on the Dog Rose, as my plants have often made shoots three feet or more in length: in colour it is of a deep golden yellow its flowers are quite double, cupped, and not liable to become reflexed: it is indeed a most superb yellow rose. Like the Yellow Austrian Briar, it loves a pure air and rich soil, and will bloom as freely; but in pruning merely the tips of its shoots must be cut off; thinning out the shoots that have been formed in summer, as recommended for Hybrid China roses, will be found good practice.†

To bloom them in perfection all the Austrian Briars require a moist soil and dry pure air: but little manure is necessary, as they grow freely in

* Introduced by Sir H. Willock.

† By shortening the strong shoots in summer so as to make them put forth laterals, there will not be any occasion for winter pruning; thus, by judiciously pinching off with the finger and thumb in June all shoots that are larger than a straw, to about half their length, small lateral twigs will break out, and the plant will be filled with blooming shoots, some of which must be removed in winter, if full-sized flowers are required.

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.

Raising Varieties from Seed.

No family of roses offers such an interesting field for experiments in raising new varieties from seed as this. First, we have the Copper Austrian, from which, although it is one of the oldest roses in our gardens, a double flowering variety has never yet been obtained. This rose is always defective in pollen, and consequently it will not bear seed unless its flowers are fertilised; as it will be interesting to retain the traits of the species, it should be planted with and fertilised by the Double Yellow; it will then in warm dry seasons produce seed not abundantly, but the amateur must rest satisfied if he can procure even one hip full of perfect seed.

The beautiful and brilliant Rosa Harrisonii, however, gives the brightest hopes. This should be planted with the Double Yellow Briar: it will then bear seed abundantly: no rose will perhaps show the effects of fertilising its flowers more plainly than this, and consequently to the amateur it is the pleasing triumph of art over nature. Every flower on my experimental plants, not fer

tilised, proved abortive, while, on the contrary, all those that were so, produced large black spherical hips full of perfect seed. The Persian Yellow does not seem inclined to bear seed, but it may be crossed with Rosa Harrisonii, and I trust with some good effect.

THE DOUBLE YELLOW ROSE.

(ROSA SULPHUREA.)

Rosier Jaune de Soufre.

The origin of this very old and beautiful rose, like that of the Moss Rose, seems lost in obscurity: it was first introduced to this country by Nicholas Lete, a merchant of London, who brought it from Constantinople towards the end of the sixteenth century; it was reported to have been sent from Syria to that city. The first plants brought to England soon died, and another London merchant, Jean de Franqueville, again introduced it, and took much pains to propagate and distribute it among the principal gardens in England in this he fully succeeded. 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 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 juxtaposition, 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 greenishyellow 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