TOE STAR OF HOLLAND.
It is the time of roses ; and though some lament the many plagues of the year roses are flowering supremely. Novelties are as many as ever ; but wherever I go I find an increased preference for one species of considerable antiquity, as roses go. The world of county gardeners, if not of florists, becomes almost unanimous on the question of Etoile d'Hollande as the best of the reds and the sweetest. For some reason the individual flowers this year are of exceptional size. Among the newer roses both Betty Uprichard and Shot Silk (a name that is to be given to one of the new and strangest sweet-peas) have increased their reputation as " good doers," over and above their charm of Daily Mellish colour. It is worth notice that a number of prizes for table decoration have been won by the neat old gold-rose, Emma Wright. Almost the sweetest thing in my garden, as always about this date, is that robustious climbing briar, 'tombola floribunda. It outgrows even American pillar or Veilchen-blau and is infinitely more sweet and—to my view—more lovely. But the climbing habit is now being extended beyond the briars into every class
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