laret.

Irish Modesty, 1900. Coral pink, ecru base to
petals.

Irish Pride, 1903. Ecru, suffused old rose and
gold.

Irish Star, 1903. Rose du Barri, with lemon star
centre.

FOOTNOTE:

[4] See Illustration.

CHAPTER VIII

HYBRID PERPETUALS

MR. THOMAS RIVERS, that father of scientific rose culture in England,
gives a most interesting account in his famous book, _The Rose Amateur's
Guide_, 1840, of the origin of the Hybrid Perpetual rose.

"_The Crimson Perpetual_, _Rose du Roi_, or _Lee's Crimson
Perpetual_,[5] ... was raised from seed, in 1812, in the gardens of the
Palace of St. Cloud, then under the direction of Le Comte Lelieur, and
named by him Rose du Roi.... It is asserted it was raised from the _Rosa
Portlandica_, a semi-double bright-coloured rose, much like the rose
known in this country as the _Scarlet Four-seasons_ or _Rosa Paestana_.

"Every gentleman's garden ought to have a large bed of Crimson Perpetual
Roses, to furnish bouquets during August, September, and October; their
fragrance is so delightful, their colour so rich, and their form so
perfect."

What would that great pioneer say to our Crimson Perpetuals of to-day?

But though this rose was the first, and probably the parent of many of
the earlier Hybrid Perpetuals, the true development of this glorious
race took place by other means. The Hybrid Chinas,[6] such as _Blairii
No. 2_, _Chenedole_, _Brennus_, and many others, now, as I have said,
most unjustly neglected, were the offspring of the China rose, _R.
Indica_, crossed with the Provence and other hardy summer flowering
roses. These were not perpetual, with the notable exception of _Gloire
de Rosamenes_. But several of them bore seed freely. These fertile
varieties were again crossed with different kinds of China and Bourbon
roses. And their seed produced the new race of strong, hardy roses, the
Hybrid Perpetuals, flowering through the whole summer and autumn.

Of those early parents of this fine race but very few are known now.
_Gloire de Rosamenes_ (Vibert, 1823) is still in cultivation. But in
vain I search English and French catalogues for those marked by my
father in 1844 in Mr. Rivers' book. Where is _Mme. Laffay_, 1839, with
its fine foliage and rosy-crimson, highly fragrant flowers; or
_Fulgorie_; or _Rivers_, with its large red flowers "produced in
clusters of great beauty"; or _La Reine_, 1843; or