To the old residents, no rose in California appeals more to the poetical sense than the old Castilian, one of the oldest varieties in the State, and one now greatly despised by its more fortunate and voluptuous sisters. The fragrance of this rose is incomparable, its color an intense glowing old pink, its foliage painfully disappointing. Having such a vigorous and healthy trunk and lusty system of roots, the Castilian is employed largely to graft other stock upon. An ideal climate should produce nothing but ideal forms. This natural and just hypothesis is amply proven in presenting the full array of California roses as evidence. What better class of evidence could be desired? There are several general groups into which California roses are usually divided: Tea roses, Bourbon roses, hybrid perpetual roses, China or Bengal roses, moss and climbing roses. Of these classes, but several can be mentioned. Roses, as a theme, are practically inexhaustible, and the few kinds that appeal most strongly to the writer's sympathies will receive a passing word. A rose-covered cottage, the material expression of peace, lowliness, beauty, and picturesqueness; a picture that most of us mirror in our minds in youth as connected with great and simple happiness. Many of the old Spanish houses of California are overrun with climbing roses. These old houses, simple in style of architecture, broad and square in appearance, are inviting abodes for the clinging loveliness of California's climbers. Some fine April morning take a little trip to San Rafael, one of San Francisco's suburban villages. In this hill-girth town blooms the fairest rose of all the climbers. Some call it the "San Rafael Rose," others the "Beauty of Blazenwood." The trunk rises bare and sturdily from the ground; as it approaches the top of a porch it spreads and bursts forth into a cloud of tawny yellow loveliness. Each rose presses hard upon its neighbor until special fancy is lost in the bewildering mass of bloom. In this rose, the palest cream tint to the richest glowing apricot tones are observable. Frequently here a dash of color almost vermilion is discovered; there a long slender-necked bud thrusts forth its head, as in derision to its closely-packed companions. These roses are not very double, and a mass of their bloom presents features of ragged, wild grace; the vivid colors enthrall, hasty steps are slackened to gaze at this golden corona of smiling April. The brilliant William Allen Richardson, the mellow-toned and sweet-breathed Salina Forrester, the lusty-growing and superb bearing Reve d'Or, the daintily flowering and enameled-leaved single white Cherokee, the prolific blooming and tiny-flowered Lady Banksia, and California's old stand-by, the Lamarque, a profusely bearing, many petaled white rose, perfect in all stages of development, and very handsome foliage. In many of the old towns of California may be seen rose trees of really enormous size.