Roses: Their History, Development and Cultivation, p. 103 (1908)
Rev. Joseph H. Pemberton

The special points of a Noisette Rose are (1) its scent, the perfume of the original parent, the Musk Rose, being very apparent, especially in the earlier varieties. (2) The manner in which the flowers are produced; it blooms in clusters, coming from one corymb—that is to say, the foot-stalks of all the flowers on a stem start from the same point, like the Banksia Rose, for example. To better understand the difference between a Tea and Noisette Rose, compare Madame Hoste, a Tea, with Caroline Kuster, a Noisette. These roses are much alike when staged as specimen blooms, but look at them growing on the plant. The former produces its flowers from different parts of the stem, the latter from a corymb. Compare also the growth and formation of the flowering stalks of Lamarque, L'Ideale, and Celine Forestier with that of the Tea, and observe how liable is the bloom of a Noisette—especially Maréchal Niel—to break off at the junction of the foot-stalk with the main stem.

A study of the Noisette Rose will assist us in the matter of pruning. Like the Banksia, it usually flowers, not from the gross shoots as do the Teas, but from the smaller secondary wood of a previous year. This being the case, if the flowering wood is to be retained, the plant requires careful pruning. On the whole it is better not to prune at all, except to remove the old and, sometimes, the very young wood, doing so only for the purpose of admitting light and air.