Comtesse Eva de Starhemberg. _Soupert et Notting_, 1891. Cream, centre ochre.

Comtesse de Saxe. _Soupert et Notting_, 1905.

Porcelain white.

Coquette de Lyon. _Pernet d.u.c.h.er_, 1872. Pale canary yellow.

Devoniensis. _Foster_, 1838. White, touched lemon.

Tender.

Enchantress. _Wm. Paul & Son_, 1896. Creamy white.

etoile de Lyon. _Guillot_, 1881. Deep lemon.

Grand d.u.c.h.ess Olga. _Leveque_, 1897. Creamy white.

Golden Gate. _Dingee & Conard_, 1892. Creamy white, yellow base.

Hon. Edith Gifford. _Guillot_, 1882. White, centre flesh.

Innocent Pirola. _d.u.c.h.er_, 1878. Creamy white, shaded yellow.

Isabella Sprunt. _Verchaffelt_, 1866. Pale sulphur.

Ivory. _America Rose Co._, 1902. Ivory-white sport from Golden Gate.

Le Pactole. Sulphur yellow, pointed buds.

Madame Bravy. _Guillot_, 1846. White, centre tinted pink.

Madame Carnot. _Pernet_, 1894. Yellowish white on deep yellow ground.

Madame Hoste. _Guillot_, 1887. Primrose yellow.

Madame de Watteville. _Guillot_, 1883. Salmon white, petals edged bright rose.

Marie Van Houtte. _d.u.c.h.er_, 1871. Canary yellow, petals tipped rose.

Marquis de Moustier. _Dubreuil_, 1906. Ivory, reflexed pearly white.

Medea. _Wm. Paul & Son_, 1891. Lemon yellow, canary centre.

Mrs. Miles Kennedy. _Alex. d.i.c.kson_, 1906. Silvery white, shaded buff, pink centre.

Muriel Grahame. _Alex. d.i.c.kson_, 1898. Pale cream, flushed rose.

Niphetos. _Bougere_, 1844. Pure white.

Peace. _Piper_, 1902. Pale lemon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TEA.

WHITE MAMAN COCHET.]

Reine Natalie de Serbie. _Soupert et Notting_, 1886. Creamy flesh.

Rubens. _Robert_, 1859. White, delicately tinted rose.

Souvenir d'elise Vardon. _Marest_, 1854. Creamy white.

Souvenir de Gabrielle Drevet. _Guillot_, 1865.

Salmon white.

Souvenir de S. A. Prince. _Prince_, 1889. Pure white sport from Souv. d'un Ami.

The Bride. _May_, 1885. White sport from Catherine Mermet.

White Maman Cochet. _Cook_, 1898. White sport from Maman Cochet.

CHAPTER VII

HYBRID TEA-ROSES, _R. indica odorata hybrida_

OF all gracious gifts that the patient science of hybridists has bestowed on rose-lovers, the development of the Hybrid Tea is perhaps the greatest. For here we have a rose with the substance and vigorous const.i.tution of the Hybrid Perpetual, one of its parents, and the varied and delicate colours of its other parent, the Tea rose. Whether for the garden, to keep it brilliant with blossom from early summer to latest autumn, or to deck the exhibition bench with largest and most lovely blooms, the Hybrid Tea stands unrivalled. And yet in 1867 there was but one solitary specimen of the race in existence, and that one was not recognized as being the forerunner of a new family, or distinct in any way, except in its beauty. For the n.o.ble rose _La France_, which M.

Guillot sent out in that year, was cla.s.sed then, and for many years after, as a Hybrid Perpetual.

It was not until 1873 that Messrs. Paul & Son, of Cheshunt, sent out the first so-called Hybrid Tea, the _Cheshunt Hybrid_. Though in the same year Lacharme introduced that priceless rose _Captain Christy_: but this, like _La France_, was for many years cla.s.sed with the Hybrid Perpetuals.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HYBRID TEA.

BARDOU JOB.]

Other new roses of this new race followed slowly--very slowly--till 1890. I have just gone carefully through the catalogues of the chief English and foreign rose-growers; and find that in 1889 only twenty-four Hybrid Teas were known. There were some truly admirable roses among them. _Camoens_ came in 1881. _Lady Mary Fitzwilliam_, one of the most valuable, 1882. Delightful _Papa Gontier_, 1883. _Grace Darling_ and _Gloire Lyonnaise_, 1884--the latter a rose which is not as generally cultivated as it should be; for grown as a bush it is the perfection of an autumn rose. _Viscountess Folkestone_, 1886. _Bardou Job_, 1887--a slightly capricious rose in some places: but so beautiful with its great semi-double flowers of scarlet-crimson flaked with velvety-black, that one bears with its little ways patiently, rejoicing when it condescends to respond to one's care. In 1888 came Bennett's _The Meteor_. In 1889 _Augustine Guinoisseau_, invaluable for ma.s.sing. And either that year or the next, the gorgeous and th.o.r.n.y _Marquise de Salisbury_.

But the real development of the race began in 1890. And since then each year has seen one superb rose after another produced in such numbers, that it is as difficult to keep count of them as to determine which of the magnificent novelties should be picked out for special mention.

It must be noted that there has been rather too great a tendency to raise enormous roses of slightly pale colouring, and among them many are merely fit for exhibition and of little use to the amateur for garden purposes. But of late these faint shades have been successfully fought against; and while size has been preserved the colours are growing deeper and richer each year. So that we are surely drawing nearer the not impossible day when we may get Hybrid Tea roses as brilliant a red or yellow as _Duke of Edinburgh_ or _Marechal Niel_, as large as _Frau Karl Druschki_, and as fragrant, let us hope, as _La France_. As it is, it is difficult to imagine anything much more vivid than the orange, deep salmon-pink, copper-red, and rosy-apricot of some of the novelties of 1906-7-8. Among them may be noted Messrs. Alex. d.i.c.kson & Son's _Dorothy Page-Roberts_, _Souvenir de Stella Gray_; Messrs. Wm. Paul's _Warrior_; MM. Soupert et Notting's magnificent _Mme. Segond Weber_, _Mme. J. W. Budde_, _Marichu Zayas_; M. Pernet-d.u.c.h.er's _Mme. Maurice de Luze_, and _Mrs. Aaron Ward_.

These roses, as I have said, are the result of crossings between the Hybrid Perpetual and the Tea rose. And if we think for a moment how these two families came into existence, we shall see what a curious and interesting blending of many different strains has been needed to develop this beautiful and valuable race. But the end has not come yet to what may be accomplished. And there can be no doubt that many remarkable developments in the history of rose-growing still lie before us and succeeding generations, when the results of fresh experiments with the Wichuraiana, the Rugosa, and other roses are made known.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SINGLE HYBRID TEA.

IRISH ELEGANCE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SINGLE HYBRID TEA.