THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



number in Asia, two fifths of the remainder in Europe and northern 

 Africa, and .the rest in North America. 



Finding the rose as widely distributed as we do in all north temperate 

 lands, we should expect references to it in the literature of all the countries 

 in that zone. And such is the case, for the rose has been the subject of 

 song and story from the days long before the Christian era down to the 

 present time. In each language it has a word of its own, which arouses 

 perhaps in the breast of each people the same tender recollections and 

 happy memories that the word " rose " does in our own. 



Let us now turn to the history of the rose. How old is the rose? It 

 is of great antiquity. There is reason to believe that it flourished in the 

 famous gardens of Babylon which existed about 1,200 years B.C. It was 

 certainly cultivated by the Jews during the reign of Solomon, about 950 

 B.C. Homer, the great poet of ancient days who flourished about 850 

 B.C., paid homage to the rose in the Iliad and Odyssey. Herodotus, who 

 lived about 400 B.C., says that in the gardens in Macedonia there was a 

 rose which flourished without culture, which had si.xty petals and which 

 emitted a most delightful perfume. 



In those olden times a mystical origin was ascribed to most things, and 

 to this the rose was no exception. The creation of the rose was credited 

 to the goddess Flora. The fable goes on to say that Flora, finding one 

 day the dead body of one of her favorite nymphs, whose beauty was only 

 equaled by her virtue, implored all the Olympian deities to aid her in 

 transforming this nymph into a flower. The gods granted her request. 

 Apollo is said to have given the vivifying power of his rays ; Bacchus con- 

 tributed the nectar; Vertumnus added the perfume; Pomona supplied the 

 fruit; and Flora herself crowned all with a diadem of flowers. Thus, 

 according to tradition, was the hose created. The poetic instinct was 

 keenly alive in these olden days, and we find the people appreciative of the 

 beautiful and blended colors of the rose, expressing this appreciation in 

 the consecration of this flower to Aurora, the goddess of the Dawn. They 

 also consecrated it to Harpocrates, the patron of silence, and so with them 

 the rose was symbolic of silence. Thus arose the expression, " sub rosa," 

 meaning under the rose, indicating that all should be kept secret or 

 silent; and this expression persists to the present day. 



The rose was greatly prized in the days of Rome, being used in enormous 

 ■quantities for decorative purposes, and it was freely employed on all fes- 

 tive occasions. To the rich and great the term, " a bed of roses," was 

 a reality, for their couches were frequently covered with a mantle of 

 rose petals. It is also related that the tyrant Nero, in one of his feasts, 

 expended about $100,000 on roses alone. Even in these days of advanced 

 rose culture with ample facilities for their production, the market would 

 be put to the test to supply such a demand. I presume there are men, 

 however, in the country who would like to take such a contract. 



Ancient Rome too had its 400, and these insisted upon having roses out 

 of season. The gardeners of those days complied with the demand and 



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