hardy and
vigorous than others, resulted from a cross with the Austrian Copper;
_Lord Penzance_ from the Austrian Yellow. This last is extraordinarily
fragrant, the scent of the leaves after rain filling the air to a
considerable distance. The rather small flowers of both these show their
parentage very clearly in colour. But for size of blossom and effect,
none of the fourteen varieties equal the bright pink and white _Flora
McIvor_, the crimson _Meg Merrilies_, and the superb dark crimson _Anne
of Geirstein_. This last is a plant of extraordinary vigour, forming in
a few years huge bushes ten feet high and nearly as many through. For a
high rose hedge or screen these hybrid sweet briars are invaluable,
while they may be also used for pillars and arches. And, with the
exception of _Lord_ and _Lady Penzance_, which are of more moderate
growth, they are easy to propagate, growing readily from cuttings,
which, if put in early in the autumn are in flower the next summer. The
foliage of the common Sweet Briar, however, remains the most fragrant of
all, with a clean, wholesome sweetness that is unsurpassed by its more
showy children, always excepting _Lord Penzance_, which, if possible,
excels it. Therefore let no one discard the old friend, and let them
plant it beside a walk, so that they may give it a friendly pinch as
they pass, to be rewarded by its delicious scent.

[Illustration: SCOTS BRIAR.

STANWELL PERPETUAL.]

[Illustration: SCOTS BRIAR.

STANWELL PERPETUAL.]

THE SCOTCH BRIAR, _R. spinossima_,

is a most fragrant little rose, its compact bushes forming an excellent
hedge round a rose garden, covered so closely with the sweet little
double, globular flowers that the tiny leaves are almost hidden by the
mass of blossom. They can be had in yellow, white, or many shades of
pink. But none are prettier than the common rose-pink. The yellow is a
hybrid--raised in France early in the nineteenth century.

The _Stanwell Perpetual_ is a Scotch briar, hybridized most probably
with the Damask Perpetual or some such rose, flesh-coloured and
flowering from May till the autumn.

ROSA RUGOSA, THE RAMANAS ROSE OF JAPAN,

was introduced into England in 1784. But this fact may, I imagine, be as
great a surprise to some of my readers as it was to myself, when I
discovered the statement on unimpeachable authority an hour ago. I well
remember the first plants of the common pinkish-red variety, which I
first saw in 1876