THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



ered Jerusalem from the crusaders, he used rose water with which to 

 purify the Mosque of Omar after it had been defiled, in his estimation, 

 by the Christians' use of it for a church. It is said that 500 camel loads 

 of roses were brought from Damascus for this purpose. 



The hybrid China roses made their appearance in the early part of the 

 nineteenth century, while the Provence roses were at their prime and in 

 the height of their glory. This hybrid was the result of crossing the 

 China rose, Rosa iiidica, with varieties of the French and Provence roses. 

 The autumn-flowering quality of the China rose, however, did not im- 

 press itself upon these hybrids. It required still another cross to accom- 

 plish this. 



The hybrid Bourbon was also a product of the early part of this cen- 

 tury. It resulted from the crossing of the French and Provence roses 

 with an autumn-flowering variety found on the Isle of Bourbon. Then 

 came the Bourbon perpetual, crosses of the hybrid Bourbon with hybrids 

 of Rosa indica, the China rose. These came some ten years before the 

 advent of the hybrid perpetual. 



About this time another race of hybrids was introduced. This was 

 obtained by crossing the musk rose, Rosa moschata, and the common blush 

 China rose. This produced the famous Noisette rose, Rosa Noiscttiana. 

 The first of this race was raised by M. Philippe Noisette, in this country. 

 He sent it to his brother Louis, in Paris, about 1817, by whom it was 

 propagated. A number of varieties were produced. It was later crossed 

 with the tea-scented rose, such forms as Marechal Niel resulting; these 

 are very difficult to distinguish from the tea roses. 



Still the rose remained, with few sporadic exceptions, a flower of the 

 summer only. The instillation of the China blood into the old time roses 

 did not produce progeny with a flowering period extending into the fall. 



The great desire now was to procure roses which would flower in the 

 autumn. The China rose, of course, did this, but it did not come up to 

 the mark in other respects. What was needed was the late-flowering 

 quality of the China and the form and scent of the other roses. 



We now come to the day of the hybrid perpetual. This was produced 

 by crossing the Damask rose, Rosa dainascena, with the hybrid China. 

 Here we have a mixture indeed : the elements of the hybrid China (vari- 

 eties of the French and Provence roses crossed with the China rose) and 

 the Damask rose. It took, therefore, two infusions of the China rose 

 blood to overcome the more sturdy qualities of the other parents and 

 produce a longer flowering period of the rose. The first fruits in this 

 direction were not entirely successful, and before a really hybrid perpetual 

 rose, such as we know it now, could be produced, it was necessary to cross 

 these so-called perpetuals with the Bourbon and still again with the China 

 roses. This was done by M. Laffey. The influence of this new race of 

 roses was first felt about 1840, and this type reigned supreme from about 

 i860 to 1890. 



To go back now a little in our history to the early part of the century. 



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