We hear much about the rose Merveille de Lyon as a white Baroness Rothschild and I fear some misconception of its characteristics will result. Early in the spring I saw at one of our florists' very perfect flowers, on imported plants that had bloomed as I venture to say few imported plants are ever bloomed; and later I found a number at another establishment. That one of its parents was a Baroness Rothschild cannot be questioned, the short heavy wood and the quantity of its peculiarly arranged leafage furnishing ample testimony on that point. But there was evidently another and considerable factor at work. I know it is spoken of as a sport but do not recollect that the raiser is responsible for the statement, and the flower is strong presumptive evidence to the contrary. The rare beauty of Baroness Rothschild consists in the shell-form of its large petals and the pearly, glistening freshness of its color. Now we miss both these qualities in the new variety. The outer petals are of good size, but the center is closely filled with shorter ones arranged wonderfully like those in Malmaison, and the ground coloring of white is creamy, not clear. I hardly need mention that in these respects it has wandered far from its nominal source.

The rose is beautiful, the fine outer petals recurving so softly as to charm even a virtuoso. Its size is good, not great, and the buds open readily, which argues well for its use in forcing. In all the specimens I met with there was a very apparent shade of pink - absent in the extreme outer row but showing through from the center - which lacked brilliancy from being on a creamy base. In short it is a beautiful white rose but not what would be naturally expected from a white Baroness Rothschild, and in my estimation, not so fine as Madame Lacharme when that rose happily consents to open.