"A survey was undertaken by The Argus newspaper to determine the most popular roses of the period and best for general garden culture. In the Wilson Bros. Nursery catalogue it is offered as The Argus Collection. " Belle Siebrecht was in the Argus Top 12 for many years, and must have been in nearly every garden in Melbourne. However, the only rose grown under that name (or Mrs W J Grant) in Australia now is thought to be incorrect.

Proc. and Bull. American Rose Society (1908) pp. 55-61
Essay on Hybridisation.
By Alex. Dickson, Acting Director of Alex. Dickson & Sons, Ltd.,
Royal Irish Nurseries, Newtownards, County Down.

In our experiments and in struggling with the qualities we have indicated, we felt convinced that La France would prove one of the most useful parents we could possible have, if we could succeed in making it produce seed. It was of course the opinion of most hybridisers that La France was sterile, and with this opinion we were for a long time inclined to agree, and indeed the best that could be said for it is this, that there is just the possibility that it may be fertilized.

A Fine Rose.

Out of many hundreds of crosses with this rose, only in one single instance did we succeed in making it produce seed, but we feel that the labour we spent was amply repaid, as the ultimate result of it was the introduction of Mrs. W. J. Grant, known to you as Belle Siebrecht, in our opinion one of the finest roses in cultivation, at least from the Britishers' standpoint. In addition to this, we have always found from practical experience, the roses descended from this particular cross have always impressed their offspring with some at least of the more prominent qualities of the parents, and it was pursuing this particular line of breeding that enabled us to produce varieties, which from a British standpoint are ideal exhibition flowers, and at the same time the plants are floriferous and of excellent constitution. In this group we might mention Killarney, Mrs. Edward Mawley, Bessie Brown, Liberty, Lady Moyra Beauclerc, Lady Ashton, Mrs. David McKee, Dean Hole, Countess of Derby, Betty, Mrs. G. W. Kershaw, and last but not least Mildred Grant and William Shean, two of the finest exhibition roses at present in cultivation in Great Britain. Mildred Grant resulted from a seedling between Niphetos and Madame Willermoz in the first instance, crossed with a seedling of our own, which is not in commerce, and the system of which this is an instance applies pretty generally to all the better classes of roses introduced by us.