Later on, the influence of crossings between the Noisette and the pure Tea instead of the China rose, is very evident in such superb roses as Maréchal Niel, L'Idéal, Wassily Chludoff—an admirable rose, by the way—the invaluable Rêve d'Or, which seldom bears a cluster of more than three flowers, and others. But though that universal favourite, [William Allen Richardson], is, alas! scentless, its habit has more in common with the Noisettes. Rêve d'Or is one of the most useful and hardy of the race, a rampant grower, with buff yellow blossoms borne in immense numbers both in summer and autumn, while its rich red shoots and reddish-green foliage make it a beautiful object before and after it blooms. It strongly resents any pruning beyond shortening its vigorous summer shoots.
Noisette.
WILLIAM ALLEN RICHARDSON.
Among the Hybrid Noisettes—i.e. those crossed with the Hybrid perpetual—Boule de Neige, a dwarf, and Madame Alfred Carrière, a rampant climber, are the best. The latter is certainly one of the best white climbing roses we have, its white blossoms, which some liken to the porcelain roses manufactured abroad, are borne singly on the stalks, and last long in water, while it is never out of flower from June to November.
The Musk Rose, R. Moschata,
seed parent of the Noisette, is perhaps more widely spread than any other rose over the face of the earth. From Madeira through Africa and Persia to Far Cathay it blooms, and sheds its delicious musky scent in the evening air. That it has been prized in the West for centuries we know—for Shakespeare's Titania promises the ass to "stick Musk roses in thy sleek smooth head." Hakluyt says that "Of later times was procured out of Italy the Muske rose plant." And Bacon declares that while the white double Violet is the sweetest of all, "next to that is the Musk rose."
The original Musk rose bearing large bunches of single white flowers, is now seldom seen except in very old gardens where it attains a great size. Mr. Rivers, in the Amateur's Rose Guide, 1843, says that "Olivier who travelled in the first six years of the French Republic, mentions a rose tree at Ispahan, called the 'Chinese Rose Tree,' fifteen feet high, formed by the union of several stems, each four or five inches in diameter. Seeds from this tree were sent to Paris, and produced the common Musk Rose." But wherever it can be found it should be cherished for the sake of its scent, which is strongest in the evening, especially after rain, filling the whole air with its fragrance.
Himalayica is a fine single white form of Moschata; and so is Nivea, a large single variety from Nepaul, white, tinged with pink. Of the double and semi-double hybrids, the Fringed Musk, a very old favourite still in cultivation, Rivers' Musk, pink, shaded buff, and the charming Princesse de Nassau, straw colour and very sweet, are all good roses, coming into flower very late in the season, and lasting on through the autumn. For pillars they are excellent subjects.
Madame d'Arblay and The Garland are hybrids of the Musk rose, which only bloom in summer.