Save for our favorable conditions, these countries would be formidable competitors against the claim made, that in California the rose has found its true habitat. A generation of experience has given to continental rosarians a skill not lightly to be valued, but when we shall have attained a like skill, with systematic endeavor to use it for the highest results, the question will no longer be a mooted one. From the fickleness of European climates, the fatal alternations of heat and cold, excessive moisture without counterbalancing sunshine making the use of glass a necessity, the California rose-grower turns with unalloyed satisfaction to a minimum of these conditions. Especially is this true of localities a few miles distant from the sea coast, where the sea breezes are softened. We are equally removed from the rigors of Fastern winters, and from springs that tarry in the "lap of Winter," leaving too short a floral season for anything like perfect success, save to those who resort to conservatories, and making out-of-door culture a practical impossibility for anything more than the brief summer months. At no period of the year do the florists of San Francisco fail to procure garden-grown roses for their requirements. From sheltered localities adjacent to the city come at all seasons buds and blossoms of great beauty.

In Southern California, from Point Concepcion to San Diego, we find Marechal Niels resting their golden heads on the mossy couches in the florists' windows. Here the Marie Van Houtte takes on her golden raiment with a mantling blush of carmine, such as is not seen elsewhere. The royal kin of the Duchesse de Brabant to remotest degree, show linings of sea-shell pink, shading to amber, beyond the power of brush or palette. While the demands of early winter cause comparative scarcity of blooms in the immediate neighborhood of the metropolis, the denizens of the Southland revel in rose gardens, where there always may be found some venturesome forerunners of the early spring-time. The industrious Safrano never feels called upon to close her blinds or take a vacation, the pure white Bella makes

a specialty of winter rose buds, and the Duchesse de Brabant affords the touch of color needed in a winter landscape-if one can imagine such a thing, with sunny skies and green hillsides.

Just here Nature forgets her thrifty winter economies, and expends fortunes of color and draperies on her royal favorites; forgets wholly her chary habits of growth in her Januaries and Februaries elsewhere, save when in sullen mood over superabundant rain-drops, atoned for in a sudden burst of sunshine by fabulous growths of stem and leaf, and incipient buds. It is here that the court of the rose kingdom holds its revels, where whole troops of fairies may give royal ban quets in Marechal Niei roses without marring their royal costumes, or pirouetting dangerously near the circumference. Professor Gray advises operas and kindred patrons of the queen of flowers to center there. If "Mahomet will not come to the mountain, then the mountain must come to Mahomet."

"All seasons are its own," is true of the rose, in its chosen home in Southern California; but even here its perfection is reached only in a few favored localities. The sea coast, unlike the northern portions of the State, gives here the best results. The soft, moist atmosphere provides a bath of dew-drops all the early hours of the day—a luxury not lightly to be estimated. A rose garden at Santa Barbara, perhaps, illustrates as perfectly as any other these conditions. It is set to a chromatic scale of color, as hopeless of reproduction as the famous sunrises of that locality reflected in the clear waters of the bay-a bewildering kaleidoscope of gold and crimson, blended with tender tints of rose, and amber, and pearl. So when the rose festival of the early springtime gathers together the clans of flower lovers and the treasures of their gardens, it is not an open question as to “who shall be Queen of the May." For several years, the attraction of those months has been this feast of roses. At first, a leading object was the correction of nomenclature, which had become a hopeless tangle; now it assumes a larger place, and taxes each year

the taste and resources of every florist of note. An attraction of the current year was in arrangements of moss and turf of generous extent, laid out as rose gardens, and supplemented with minor growths to accentuate their beauty. A toboggan of shaded crimson roses, with sliding ground of white La marques, was a striking "novelty," arranged to the life by ladies "to the manner born." The lavish profusion with which roses are used on these occasions would paralyze an Eastern or a European florist. Some simple bank or side decoration will require five thousand roses of one shade; another contrasting bank as many of crimson shaded to white.

Ventura, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Pasadena, and many another town and hamlet could provide displays which would destroy the peace of rose growers of other lands. As springtime deepens, the central and northern counties wheel into line, and the whole State is crowned with roses and heavy with fragrance. Oakland, Alameda, Haywards, Niles, San Jose, and intermediate places, are filled with the glories of rose gardens-a gladness to every beholder; though it is a question if the less frequent winter bud and blossom is not more perfectly appreciated than the "embarrassment of wealth" of the later season. The Banksias on the trellis are throwing out golden spheres on one side and miniature snow-wreaths on the other, rivaling the Cloth of Gold, the William Francis Bennett, the Niphetos, and the endless array from Adam to Vicomte de Cazes. Every bud and bloom of the lesser lights of the floral world is eclipsed, and the carnival of roses holds undisturbed for many a gala day.

This picture is true of all California for the spring and summer months. Santa Rosa claims precedence over her sister towns, though the unprejudiced observer notes as lavish a display at Napa, Sonoma, and many another favored locality. Sacramento considers herself most favored in roses at this present season, and with apparent reason. Beside the mountain roses of the early spring-time, barbaric splendors pale. VOL. VI.-13.

Not content with trellis or neighboring cornice, they reach out for adjacent tree-tops, covering the leafy splendors with uncounted thousands of royal bud and bloom. In the mad strife for gold some decades since, an argonaut of '49, in a homesick hour, planted a branch of climbing rose at his cabin door. Now, deserted cabin and tree and hillside are a wilderness of "white chalices held up by unseen hands," relieved by tangled masses of vines and tendrils, fed by a clear stream that murmurs past the cabin door. The materials are all here, the poetry and the pathos all ready for the writer. Old-world ruins, overgrown with ivy, winning from the pilgrim and tourist willing tribute in song and story, could find here a fitting counterpart.

An effective method in arrangement of roses is often seen in beds cut in the lawn, where harmonizing or contrasting colors can be satisfactorily introduced. These beds are usually composed of Tea, Noisette, and Bourbon Roses, with an occasional Hybrid Tea, and the following varieties, from habit of growth, symmetry of form, and freedom of bloom, may safely be arranged together: Coquette de Lyon, Catherine Mermet, Marie Van Houtte, Perle des Jardins, Sombrieul, La France, Madame Pernet, La Jonquille, Madame Lambard, William Francis Bennett, Comtesse Riza du Parc, Sunset, La Princess Vera, Coquette des Alpes, Caroline Kuster, Cornelia Cook, Madame Guillot; and for gardens near the coast and cooler portions of the State, Safrano, Madame Falcot, La Sylphide. In Southern California the first two succumb to the prevalent sunshine, and the last is subject to mildew--and a substitute in that case is much better policy than a battle. A retreat is often the better part of valor in rose culture. An equally effective arrangement of Hybrid Perpetuals, with a border of low-growing ones for spring and autumn blooming, may be composed of the following varieties: Marie Baumann, Alfred Colomb, Baroness Rothschild, Marquis de Castellane, Louis Van Houtte, Marie Rady, Etienne Levet, White Baroness Rothschild, Vulcan, Xavier Oliba, Monsieur E. Y.

Teas, Baron Bonstetten, Prince Camille de Rohan, Abel Caniere, Fisher Holmes, François Michelon, with an outer edge of Pæonaia and Madame Françoise Pettit. This number calls, of course, for a large space, but a selection therefrom will be found valuable for a smaller one. Special care has been given to select sorts that bear well our large allowance of sunshine. Many choice varieties are failures here for no reason but that they do not. An experienced florist specially recommends Louis Van Houtte and Marie Baumann as free from this objection; also General Jacqueminot, and Alfred Colomb. In the shades of rose color the more permanent ones are Marquis de Castellane and Rev. J. B. Camm. In the paler shades are recommended Eugene Verdier, Monsieur Noman, and Captain Christy. To be avoided where brilliant sunshine is the rule, are the Verdier type, save the one given above, the Giant of Battles, the Lefevres, and the Duke of Edinburgh family.

A few of the leading florists on this coast have increased the value of this article by naming to the writer a few reliable varieties for their several localities. For the immediate neighborhood of San Francisco, in the constant blooming varieties, are given Pauline La Bonte, Safrano, Claire Carnot, Isabella Sprunt, Bon Silene, Gloire de Dijon, Marie Van Houtte; for Hybrids-General Jacqueminot, Paul Neyron, John Hopper, Cardinal Patrizzi, Jules Margotten, Madame Rivers, Boule de Niege; for Noisettes-Reve d'Or, or Climbing Safrano, Reine Marie Henriette, Gold of Ophir, Aimee Vibert, La Marque, Climbing Devoniensis, Marechal Niel, Mrs. Heyman, Microphylla; for Bourbons, Souvenir de Malmaison, Pælona, Hermosa, Madame Bosanquet. The following remedies for insects affecting the rose in this locality are kindly added: "For green fly in the spring, syringe with whale-oil soap and tobacco water; for red spider, syringe under leaves and dust with sulphur." Roses grown out of doors and under the best conditions, however, give comparatively little trouble in this direction. Perhaps the most troublesome enemy is an insect that stings

the outer leaves of opening buds, for which no remedy is given, as it would have to be like the famous recipe for cooking a hare— "First catch your" bug, then kill it. Scale sometimes annoys old plants; for this, whaleoil soap is a remedy-but probably a better one is a new plant.

Another enthusiastic florist gives a list for interior localities: For Teas-Bella, Catherine Mermet, Devoniensis, Elise Sauvage, Isabella Sprunt, Marie Van Houtte, Madame Lombard, Madame Falcot, Niphetos, Perle des Jardins, Safrano, La Sylphide; for Hybrid Perpetuals-Alfred Colomb, Baroness Rothschild, Gen. Jacqueminot, Jules Chretien, Pæonia, Earl of Pembroke, Heinrich Schultheis, Madame Vidot, Merveille de Lyons; climbers - Reine Marie Henriette, La Marque, Marechal Niel; Noisettes--W. A. Richardson, Ophire, Madame Caroline Kuster; Bourbons--Appoline, Queen of Bedders, Souvenir de Malmaison; for winter bloomers-W. F. Bennett, Sunset, Madame de Watteville, Southern Belle, Bon Silene.

The following list, irrespective of individual locality, will be found to contain valuable sorts of constant bloomers, all carefully tested, largely of the Tea, Noisette and Bourbon varieties, and particularly adapted to this Coast. Very few "novelties" will be found, as they await the decision of the court of California florists, and at present are held as "not proven": Madame Welche, Etoile de Lyon, Madame de Watteville, L'Elegante, Antoine Mermet, Sunset, Red Souvenir de Malmaison, La France, Cornelia Cook, Bella, Shirley-Hibbard, Catherine Mermet, Comtesse Riza du Parc, La Princess Vera, Comtesse de la Barthe, Devoniensis, Gloire de Dijon, Letty Coles, Madame Bravy, Madame Falcot, Md'lle Rachel, Marie Van Houtte, Madame Lambard, Niphetos, Safrano, Perle des Jardins, Marie Sisley, Sombrieul, Elise Sauvage, La Jonquille, Jaune d'Or, Pauline La Bonte, Arch Duke Charles. Agrippina, Madame Bosanquet, Marie Guillott, Madame de Vatrey, Madame Villermoz, Rubens, Homer, Souvenir de Malmaison, Appoline, Celine Forester, Comtesse de Nadaillac, La Sylphide, Chromatella, W. F.

Bennett, W. A. Richardson, Bon Silene. Climbers Marechal Niel, Claire Carnot, Chromatella, Madame Marie Berton, La Marque, La Reine, Solfaterre, Setina, Caroline Goodrich-the latter a fine, red climber after the style of General Jacqueminot. The yellow and the white Banksia, though blooming but once a year, cannot be omitted. Among Moss roses, the so called perpetuals have not proved a satisfactory addition; the older varieties are still the best. Among these the Comtesse de Murinais, the Eclatante and the Crested Moss are reliable; the latter was found on the walls of the Convent at Fribourg, and has always been a favorite, as it is usually free from mildew. Of the Hybrid Teas, La France and Michael Saunders are the best, nearly all of the others fading in this climate, thus proving a disappoint ment.

Concerning seedlings, several florists of our State are making valuable experiments, and their seedlings are among the thousands in number; but none are prepared to announce new varieties as yet, though some very promising ones are being developed. Some seedlings from Comptesse de la Barthe, La Sylphide, and Safrano are of especial promise, and we shall look with interest for further developments. Careful inquiry shows that much interest is being felt here on this point, and the future will show valuable results. Some promising seedlings are being exhibited at the Rose Festivals of Southern California. California should, with her long seasons and favorable climate, give some prominence to these experiments. England and France send out yearly large numbers of new roses, and among them we have secured types and additions of permanent value. Nearly all of our best varieties are the product of the last twenty-five years, and are largely the result of the careful experiments of the last decade.

Concerning the culture of roses, we have something to learn from other nations. Fair results have been reached with so little labor on the part of the grower, that we have paused there. When we shall have reached the maximum of care bestowed upon French and

English rose gardens, where operations are conducted with mathematical precision and unfailing devotion, we shall see marvelous results. When we shall prepare roses for exhibition two years in advance; when we shall study our soils and conditions with a seventh floricultural sense, born of an intense enthusiasm for our work; then we shall see results worthy of the climatic conditions with which nature has endowed us. Just here lies our danger; so much has been given that we allow it to suffice, and are satisfied with a thousandfold less than we might receive.

Regarding the pruning, much depends on locality and variety. The cooler climate of the coast permits a standard form, and higher trimming than in the warmer valleys, where the heat of summer requires shade for healthy growth, and of necessity low culture. During periods of rest the old wood should be removed, leaving, if possible, from one to three upright shoots from the root. A matter of vital importance is to commence training the rose from the first planting, and unless one is hampered by varieties addicted to slow and awkward growths, a satisfactory result is attainable.

The old wood should be cut below the ground; when young and vigorous shoots are ready to take its place, awkward and straggling side growths should be headed in

though in this regard, prevention is better than cure. Sacrifice bloom rather than allow such growths, and the reward will come in later days. In climbers, side pruning and a selection of runners will be all that can be accomplished. Beyond all these conditions of success is the one of rapid growth.

When insects attack a rose grown out of doors in inland localities, it is usually an old or an unhealthy plant. If the root finds luxurious plant food, the top will show splendid results. An English florist gives an excellent formula for rose planting: Allow the hole to be eighteen inches in depth, and large enough to contain a wheelbarrowful of compost, two-thirds turfy loam, and onethird decomposed manure,” and adds that "it is difficult to give a rose too good a soil." When California rosarians grow their roses