Roses and Apples a5 
being rubbed out by the gizzard and passing through 
the bird’s intestines undigested and uninjured. The 
hairs may expedite this process by setting up internal 
irritation. It is in this way that the Wild Roses 
have got themselves planted all along our hedges, 
our copses, and in every bushy clump upon our 
heaths. 
Roses grow rapidly 
because they have not 
got to wait after every 
advance of a few inches 
until they have built up 
and matured a _ good 
thickness of solid wood. 
By their method of 
scrambling among the 
branches of other shrubs 
Hips and hanging on by the 
help of their stout hooked 
prickles, they can add several feet to their stature in 
one season of growth. These prickles are nothing 
more than a development of the protective hairs with 
which many plants are furnished. 
The difference between Wild and Garden Roses 
consists in the fact that the stamens of the Wild 
Rose have been converted into petals. If we cut 
down through the centre of a Cabbage Rose, say, we 
shall find only two or three stamens and 
some very narrow petals in addition to a 
large number of fully-developed petals. I Lam > 
do not mean to assert that any of these — Nutiet 
petals were ever stamens in this particular 
specimen, but that in the ancestors of the Cabbage 
3 
