Francis Parkman

“ One of these trees is on a stem a trifle more than two feet in height, and it has been these two or three summers past a picture of beauty. When in full bloom, the ends of its shoots rest on the ground, and it then forms a perfect dome of roses: nothing in rose-culture can really be more beautiful. ”

“ Its long, slender, tapering buds are unsurpassed in beauty. It thrives admirably in a cool greenhouse, climbing with a rampant growth over the rafters, and giving forth a profusion of flowers through the greater part of the winter. Unlike all the other roses described in this book, it is a species in its original, undeveloped state, and, as such, offers a tempting subject for the art of the hybridist. ”

“ Amadis, or the Crimson Boursault, is of a deep purplish-crimson, with large semi-double flowers. The Blush Boursault is, in its flowers, larger and more full than most others of the species. They are of a deep flesh-color, passing into a lighter shade towards the edge. It can scarcely owe its qualities to the Boursault race alone, but seems to be a hybrid of some of the Chinese roses. When in perfection, it is much the best of the group, but requires a warmer and brighter aspect than the others. ”

“ A little done well is far more satisfactory than a great deal done carelessly and superficially. He who raises one perfect and fully developed specimen of a plant is a better horticulturist than he who raises an acre of indifferent specimens. The amateur who has made himself a thorough master of the cultivation of a single species or variety, has, of necessity, acquired a knowledge and skill, which, with very little pains, he may apply to numberless other forms of culture. ”

“ Louise Odier is a rose of very vigorous growth, and one of the hardier members of the family: its flowers are of a bright rose-color, of a beautiful cupped form; and it has a tendency to bloom in clusters. Prince Albert is still hardier. Its color is a brilliant crimson-scarlet, and its autumn bloom is abundant. Sir Joseph Paxton is of a bright rose-color, tinged with crimson: its growth is exceedingly vigorous; and, with moderate protection, it will bear our winters. Souvenir de la Malmaison is unsurpassed among roses. It is very large, and beautifully formed. ”

“ There are different kinds of culture, with different effects. That which is founded in the laws of Nature, and aims at a universal development, produces for its result not only increased beauty, but increased symmetry, strength, and vitality. On the other hand, it is in the power of the skilful florist to develop or to repress whatever quality he may please. By artificial processes of culture, roses have been produced, beautiful in form and color, but so small, that the whole plant, it is said, might be covered with an egg-shell. These are results of the ingenious florists of China and Japan. ”

“ The rose-bug is endowed with a constitution which defies tobacco and soap; and, though innumerable remedies have been proposed, we know no better plan than to pick them off the bushes by hand, or, watching a time when they are chilled with cold, to shake them off upon a cloth laid on the ground beneath. In either case, sure work should be made of them by scalding or crushing them to death. ”

“ An ill-informed or careless amateur will suffer shoots to grow from the roots or stem of the stock; and, as these are always vigorous, they engross all the nourishment, and leave the budded rose to dwindle or die; while its disappointed owner, ignorant of the true condition of things, often congratulates himself on the prosperous growth of his plant. At length he is undeceived by the opening of the buds, and the appearance of a host of insignificant single roses in the place of the Giant of Battles or General Jacqueminot. ”

“ The June, or once blooming roses, it is true, make also a first and second growth; but, with them, the second growth gives leaves alone. In the true ever-blooming roses, or roses that bloom continuously, the growth of young wood capable of bearing flowers is going on with little interruption during the whole period when the vital powers of the plant are awake. It is to stimulate the production of this blooming wood that we prune back the shoots that have already bloomed, as soon as the flowers have faded. ”

“ While the French excel all others in the production of new varieties, the English are unsurpassed in the cultivation of varieties already known; and nothing can exceed the beauty and perfection of some of the specimens exhibited at their innumerable rose-shows. If the severity of our climate has its disadvantages, the clearness of our air and the warmth of our summer sun more than counterbalance them; and it is certain that roses can be raised here in as high perfection, to say the very least, as in any part of Europe. ”

“ New races have been introduced from China, Persia, Hindostan, and our own country; and these, amalgamated with the older families by the art of the hybridist, have produced still other forms of surpassing variety and beauty. This multiplication and improvement are still in progress. The last two or three years have been prolific beyond precedent in new roses; and, with all regard for old favorites, it cannot be denied, that, while a few of the roses of our forefathers still hold their ground, the greater part are cast into the shade by the brilliant products of this generation. ”

“ Original THE ROSE requires high culture. This belle of the parterre, this "queen of flowers," is a lover of rich fare, and refuses to put forth all her beauties on a meagre diet. Roses, indeed, will grow and bloom in any soil; but deficient nourishment will reduce the size of the flowers, and impair the perfection of their form. Of all soils, one of a sandy or gravelly nature is the worst; while, on the other hand, a wet and dense clay is scarcely better. A rich, strong, and somewhat heavy garden loam, abundantly manured, is the soil best adapted to all the strong-growing roses ”

“ The Alba roses bloom abundantly, and form in masses a beautiful contrast, in their chaste and delicate hues, with the deeper colors of the French and Hybrid China roses. They rarely bear seed freely.
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Rosa Gallica.—This rose draws its origin from the south of Europe, where its wild progenitor still grows abundantly in the hedges. It is one of the best known, and longest under cultivation, of all the species. We confess our strong partiality for it. It is perfectly hardy, compact in growth, abundant in bloom, beautiful in form, and rich and various in coloring. ”

“ It is generally supposed, however, to have sprung from the seed of a wild trailing rose common in Great Britain and in Western Europe, the flowers of which had been impregnated by accident or design with the pollen of some other species. The Ayrshire roses are known in Europe for their astonishing vigor of growth; some species, it is said, growing nearly thirty feet in a year,—an achievement which we never knew them to equal in this country. Their growth, however, is very rapid; and, when once established, their long, slender shoots quickly possess themselves of every object near them. ”

“ It will grow and bloom anywhere, and endures neglect with a patience unknown to most others of its race. Yet none better rewards a careful and generous culture. It returns a rich response to the care bestowed upon it; and, under high cultivation, the members of this group have no superiors in beauty. It is not, however, in favor at the present day. Roses of equal beauty, though, not of equal hardihood, and endowed with the one valuable quality in which it is wanting,—that of continuous or repeated blooming,—have, of late, supplanted it. ”

“ There is another race of climbers, held in great scorn by foreign florists, but admirably adapted to our climate, under whose influences they put forth beauties by no means contemptible. These are the progeny of the wild Michigan or Prairie Rose, rampant growers, and generally sturdy enough to outface our hardest winters. The best of them, however, the Baltimore Belle, is evidently the offspring of a foreign marriage, which, while contributing fragrance and beauty to the rugged race of the prairies, has detracted something from its hardihood. ”

“ Rosa Damascena.—This is a race of Damask roses endowed with the faculty of blooming in the autumn. The old roses known as the Monthly (not the China roses so called) and the Four Seasons are the parents of the group, though not without some infusion of foreign blood. The Damask Perpetuals are hardy, and remarkable for fragrance. They demand rich culture, even more than most other roses; and the best of them with neglect and low diet will bloom but once in the year, and that indifferently. ”

“ They may be planted in the kitchen-garden, budded with the above-mentioned sort, and, to give variety in color, with some of the following kinds,—all varieties of Rosa Sempervirens, Myrianthes, Jaunâtre, Adelaide d'Orléans, and Spectabilis. Every bud will succeed, as no roses grow more freely; and, after remaining one season from budding in their 'nursery,' some nice places must be found for them on the lawn, where, unpruned, unchecked, they will, with all the freshness of unassisted Nature, annually delight the eye of the lover of flowers. ”

“ The cardinal points of successful rose-culture are a good soil, good pruning, and good cultivation. By cultivation, we mean a repeated digging, hoeing, or forking of the earth around the plants, by which the surface is kept open, and enabled freely to receive the dew, rain, and air, with its fertilizing gases. Plants so treated will suffer far less in a drought than if the soil had been left undisturbed; for not only will it now absorb the dew at night, but it will freely permit the moisture which always exists at certain depths below the surface to rise, and benefit the thirsty roots. ”

“ It is evident, that, by continuing the process of hybridizing, hybrids may be mixed with hybrids, till the blood of half a score of the original races is mingled in one plant. This, in some cases, is, without doubt, actually the case; and this bastard progeny must, of necessity, be classified rather by its visible characteristics than by its parentage. Thus a host of ever-blooming hybrids, which are neither Noisette nor Bourbon nor Perpetual Moss, have been cast into one grand group, under the comprehensive title of Hybrid Perpetuals. ”

“ A new or rare rose may be increased by it more rapidly and surely than by any other means; while roses of feeble growth on their own roots will often grow and bloom vigorously when budded on a strong and congenial stock. On the other hand, the very existence of a budded rose is, in our severe climate, precarious. A hard winter may kill it down to the point of inoculation, and it is then lost past recovery; whereas a rose on its own roots may be killed to the level of the earth, and yet throw up vigorous shoots in the spring. ”

“ Over these, sift coarse gravel to prevent the soil from working into their crevices, and on the gravel make a bed somewhat more than a foot deep of good loam, mixed with a nearly equal quantity of light, well-rotted manure, adding sand if the texture of the loam requires it. The bed should be in an open, sunny situation, and sheltered, as far as may be, from strong winds. The Tea roses planted in it—unless they have been exhausted by forcing in the greenhouse—will give a liberal supply of bloom until checked by the autumn frosts. ”

“ Scotch roses, when grown into beds and clumps as dwarfs, are beautiful; and in early seasons they will bloom nearly a fortnight before the other summer roses make their appearance. This, of course, makes them desirable appendages to the flower-garden. They bear seed profusely; and raising new varieties from seed will be found a most interesting employment. To do this, all that is required is to sow the seed as soon as ripe, in October, in pots or beds of fine earth, covering it with nearly an inch of mould: the succeeding spring they will come up, and bloom in perfection the season following. ”

“ In the production of new roses, France takes the lead. A host of cultivators great and small—Laffay, Vibert, Verdier, Margottin, Trouillard, Portemer, and numberless others—have devoted themselves to the pleasant art of intermarrying the various families and individual varieties of the rose, and raising from them seedlings whose numbers every year may be counted by hundreds of thousands. ”

“ Unfortunately, the severe cold and sudden changes of the Northern States, and especially of New England, are very unfavorable to standard roses. The hot sun scorches and dries the tall, bare stem; and the sharp cold of winter frequently kills, and in almost every case greatly injures, the budded rose at the top. It is only by using great and very troublesome precaution that standards can here be kept in a thriving condition. This may be done most effectually by cutting or loosening the roots on one side, laying the rose flat on the ground, and covering it during winter under a ridge of earth. ”

“ Monsieur Laffay, by persevering through two or three generations, obtained a mossy Hybrid Bourbon rose, and many of the finest varieties described in the foregoing pages. This information will, I trust, be an incentive to amateurs in this country. To illustrate this, I may here remark, that a yellow Ayrshire Rose, now a desideratum, must not be expected from the first trial; but probably a climbing rose, tinged with yellow or buff, may be the fruit of the first crossing. This variety must again be crossed with a yellow rose: the second generation will, perhaps, be nearer the end wished for. ”

“ Many shoots will spring up from the base of the plants, too strong to produce summer blooms; but most of them will gratify the cultivator will such noble flowers in the autumn that will delight the heart of any lover of this queen of flowers. ”

“ All require rich culture and good pruning. When an abundant autumn bloom is required, a portion of the June bloom must be sacrificed by cutting back about half the flower-stems to three or four eyes as soon as the flower-buds form. When the flowers fade, these also should be cut off with the stems that bear them, in a similar manner. The formation of the seed-vessels, by employing the vitality of the plant, tends greatly to diminish its autumn bloom. Give additional manure every year, and keep the ground open, and free of weeds. ”