The Magazine of Horticulture 26: 40 (Jan. 1860))

History and Cultivation of the Rose.—Mr. Shirley Hibbard recently delivered a most interesting lecture on the Rose. Mr. Hibbard briefly sketched the history of the rose from the earliest times to the peace of 1815, when, he said, the first of the great French rose gardens was laid out by M. Vibert, and the improvement of the rose as a florist's flower commenced in earnest . The great majority of these varieties had been raised in France during the past forty-five years by MM. Vibert, Laffay, Hardy, Desprez, Prevost, Lacharme, Margottin, Guillot, Granger, and a few other professional and amateur growers. The lecturer enumerated the best roses raised by each, and gave a few historical memoranda of such roses as ANNIE VIBERT, Jules Margottin, Geant des Betailles, Great Western, and others, tracing them to their parentage, and indicating, also, the varieties which had proceeded from them. The seedlings of Geant des Betailles, he said, were sufficiently numerous to constitute a rich collection of extraordinary roses, and they included Lord Raglan, General Jacqueminot, Duchess of Norfolk, Eveque de Nimes, Louis Chaix, and others of the crimson section of Hybrid perpetuals. Passing from the varieties, the lecturer proceeded to the subject of culture, giving an epitome of the treatment of the rose on loam, sand, clay, chalk and peat, with hints on the selection of varieties and the management of stock, as well as the improvement of unsuitable soils. He then treated of propagation, and by the aid of a black-board, explained the various modes of budding on the Briar, Manetti, Celine, and other stocks. His description of the method of striking roses from eyes in the fashion of a grape vine, was particularly interesting. The buds were to be taken at the same season and in the same manner as for budding on the Briar, that is from half ripe wood, the buds of which had not started. The leaf was not to be secured: nor was the wood to be taken out of the shield, but every bud with its attached bark and leaves was to be planted in pure sand with a little peat under it for the first roots to work into, and then covered with a bell glass. In this way scarce roses would be multiplied readily. The Rector of Horsney proposed a vote of thanks, which was carried by acclamation.— (Gard. Chron.)