I thank the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society for the high compliment which they paid to me in asking me to give a short, popular, and useful lecture on matters connected with the Rose. As the time is limited, and as "a great book is a great evil," I can only select. I will endeavour to avoid prolixity, laxity, and obscurity. Nothing new can I say-- nothing that has not been said before, and said much better. The best lectures on the Rose are the noble works of Rivers, W. Paul, and Cranston-- works that should be in the library of every rosarian. Good, however, and truthful as these works are, I am persuaded that nothing but experience can make a man a first-rate rosarian. I will endeavour to speak from experience, making this observation, that all, or almost all, I shall say, has been given already to the public in my published articles from time to time.

1. Soil.-- The best soil for Roses, and for such stocks as I possess, is friable loam. Where this soil exists not naturally, it may be approached by an admixture of stiff soil, sand or ashes, and back manure, in equal parts. Oak trees, Roses, and Strawberries have all an affinity for clay. I had nearly said they are convertible terms. Still, even where there is not a particle of clay, which is the case where I live, certain Roses, on suitable stocks, with good high cultivation and attention, may be grown, and very fine Roses too. there are also Roses that cannot be grown without an admixture of clay. I need hardly say these are roses which, though good in themselves, ar not fit for the public generally.

2. Planting.-- Much depends upon how this is done. Briar Roses should not be planted deeper than 4 inches; indeed, if people would mulch the plants in a radius of 18 inches, they may be planted nearer the surface. Manetti Roses should be planted over the collar of the bud: and hence they should be propagated sufficiently low that the sources of the roots are not deeper than 6 inches.

3. Staking and Tying. -- All freshly-planted Roses, especially if exposed to wind, require to be staked and tied. Iron stakes are the best; but I use, for small plants, thatcher's spars, 6s. 6d. per 1000; and, for strong plants, I use hurdle shores, at 7s.per 100. For tying I use matting. Where winds do not prevail, after the first year ground plants and two-feet standards (the most convenient height where numbers are to be packed in), will not require staking and tying. If ground plants are grafted, they must always be staked and tied, or the weight of flowers will break them off a the point of union.

4. Rose Stocks.-- The dog-briar, the Manetti stock, and the Celine stock, are all good stocks for certain Roses, under certain circumstances. Roses are volatile things, and all rules admit of exception; in the rosery there is not, as in our cours of law, "rule absolute."

As regards the Celine stock, I know but little of it. Mr. Wood, of Maresfield, kindly gave me four specimens of the duchess of Norfolk on this stock, ranging, with shoots of one year's growth, from 12 feet to 12 feet 9 inches high. They bloomed admirably last year at their full height. This year I shortened to 9 feet, and they have again bloomed will. I budded last year the Duc de Rohan, a splendid vermillion Rose, on the Boursault Amadis, and it has thrown up a fine truss, and bloomed well.

As regards the Briar stock, it is an admirable stock for strong lands, and better than the Manetti stock for dwarf and moderate growers; but, if land is light or shallow, unless you can afford replenish constantly, and also to mulch, you had better have Roses on the Manetti stock. this stock is suited to strong growers, ad to all alands. Though an Italian stock it is, on well-drained grounds, the hardiest of all.

In such inferior land as mine, roses budded in loco on the Briar, and manured very highly, bear no comparison with purchased Manetti Roses for earliness, abundance and largeness of flowers, and for lateness and continuity of flowers; still, put Briar roses in suitable land, and it will do splendidly for you. For pole purposes the Manetti stock is, I think, the best.

5. Pruning -- Some people prune on a particular day, and prune all Roses alike. Excellent rules are given for he pruning of all families in the three noble works before referred to. It must not, however, be forgotten that Roses in the same family require very different pruning. Among the Bourbons there is a world-wide difference between Acidalie and LaQuintinie.

A regards a Briar Rose, in the spring of its first planting, or whenever it is moved, it is a rule that it must be cut hard, whether it be for a pole, wall, or standard. For lack of this Briar Roses frequently fail. Till, however, the sap rises, and the eyes swell, you must never prune. As regards Manetti Roses, they often fail from being cut hard. From first to last prune them as Hybrid Chinas, whether pot plants or monstrous plants. If their wood and skin are injured, then you must cut them down to sound wood and sound skin.

6. Growth and Hardihood. -- These do not always go together, but both are requisite for England. Some that have China blood in them grow well, but yet they are not hardy. As a rule the thorned Roses are hardier than the smooth-skinned roses. Of course there are exceptions in both cases. When, therefore, you see a novelty described as thornleess, remember it may be no recommendation.

I ventured, some years ago, to say, in an article, that none but vigorous growers would suit the english; and the consequence has been that raisers of seedlings have erased the words "dwarf" and "moderate," and now almost every new Rose is described as "vig."

I am told that some of the new Roses of 1864, described as "vig." are very dwarf and bad growers. "Moderate," in the fine lands of nurserymen, will be "dwarf" in ninety-five lands out of a hundred, and "dwarf" means death. the two best moderate growers, and both hardy and excellent, are the well-known Giant of Battles and Pauline Lanzezeur.

7. Watering.-- Roses suffer much in torrid weather from lack of water. Before watering the ground should be surface-stirred, and sufficient water poured over the roots to touch all the points of the roots. If the surface is kept superficially stirred, it will be moister than when kept corked down tight, because a lesser quality of rain, and the night dews, which are in the ratio of the sun's heat, will be able more easily to penetrate the soil.

8. Syringing. -- A great many of the miseries of Roses would be got rid of if the trees were regularly syringed from the earliest appearance of the leaves. By keeping the lungs clean you preserve the health of the plants. The leaves of plants are externally and internally conducive to health. Syringing is the best thiing to keep down fungi and aphides, and also to prevent the mischief of honey-dew, which, if not washed off as soon as perceived, will, by the sun's extraction of the fluid parts, leave a viscous concrete, that will destroy the functions of the leaves.

9. Fungi -- These are a numerous family. The two most destructive are orange fungus and white fungus. Orange fungus must be picked off by hand before the nucleus bursts and spreads its spores over the leaves; and white fungus must be destroyed by sulphur (the black sulphur is best), or by 2 oz. of blue vitriol, dissolved in a little hot water, and then mixed with a stable-bucket of cold water, and poured from a watering-pot, with the top on, over the leaves. This is the most effectual remedy. There is also another misery--"black blight". This is also called by some a fungus. It may be so; but I could never perceive the spores of fungus. It proceeds, I believe, from a low state of temperature, also from checks of the weather. I am inclined to think this, because I never remember seeing it under glass, which is no preventive of white fungus. It is less mischievous than either of the other two miseries. When it occurs early in the year, if the leaves are universally affected, stirring the ground deeply, or removing the plant, to stop the sap, are probably the best preventives of mischief.

10. Wind.-- Roses cannot have too much air, and too little wind, in the growing season. At other times it is beneficial. Great havoc every year has been committed on my rosery by the destruction of the leaves by wind. This season the wind has been quiet; but in ten of the months last year there were from one to five gales monthly.

11. Novelties. -- Do not give up such good and hardy Roses as the Giant of Battles and Baronne Prevost. They have outlived hundreds at my residence, and are as healthy as they were twelve years ago.

"Tis good to on with the new love
Before you are off with the old."

No question, good Roses come out yearly; but we want not only good Roses, but better than we have got: we want more distinct roses. As regards from, we need more cups and globes; as regards colours, we want true purples (now supplied by Alfred de Rougemont), full-sized autumnal pure whites and creamy whites, yellow Hybrid Perpetuals, variegated Perpetuals, high-coloured Teas, and more full-sized, full, very dark Roses.

In the dark line we have Empereur de Maroc, small, but beautiful and full: Princesse Mathilde, dark, shelly, beautiful, but not full; Francois Arago, full and good; Duc de Cazes, dark, full, and fine; and Alfred de rougemont and Prince Camille de Rohan, both very dark, full, and fine. there is one new Rose very interesting, tolerably dark, and also good-- a Rose of royal and national interest -- Deuil de Prince Albert, or the Mourning of Prince Albert. Mr. rivers has well said, in a letter to me, that it is, from its darkness and mournfully-pendulous habit, well adapted to represent the royal and national, and, I may almost say, world-wide, sorrow at so sad an event. I caused it to be mentioned to Her Majesty by my friend Lord Rivers; and I cannot but think that this Rose, and such-like as I have named, would be very appropriate to adorn the mausoleum, and also suitable to this Royal Garden, so indebted to Her Majesty and the late Prince Consort.

Lasty. The Selection of Roses. -- I think you cannot do better, if you do not know the Roses, than state to the nurseryment what are your circumstances and wants, and though they cannot for several years be quite sure about novelties, I am sure they will not wilfully deceive you. the old "stuff" they well know; but the cannote, in the case of novelties, be sure of them, till they have passed through severe winters and unpropitious summers, or tell their true value or worthlessness. I think the nurserymen should take some security from the raisers of seedlings that the Roses are according to description and I also think that they should make inquiry as to the "suppressio veri" as well as take security agtainst the "expressio falsi".

It now only remains to thank you for your kindness, and to hope that what I have said may create true rosarians. Your well-known love of the Rose must be my apology for this prolonged address. I hope that I shall not commit a breach of good taste if I express my thanks to Her Majesty for originating this great Society; if I thank the Society, on behalf of all rosarians, for their splendid patronage of the Rose cause; if I express my far greater gratitude to Him from whom, and through whom, all blessings flow, who is the "Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley."