4 THE PROVENCE ROSE. 



Hybrid Koses, between this and Kosa gallica, 

 are called Provence Koses by the French amateurs 

 of the present day. Our Provence, or Cabbage, 

 Rose, is exceedingly varied in the form and dis- 

 position of its petals. In the following paragraphs 

 I have confined myself to a description of those 

 only that partake largely of the character of the 

 common Cabbage, or Provence, Rose, and that are 

 worthy of cultivation ; the latter name was sup- 

 posed by early writers on the rose to be synony- 

 mous with ' Provins,' the name applied in France, 

 as I have said in another place, to the Rosa gallica, 

 a semi-double variety of which is cultivated for the 

 purpose of making rose-water largely in the envi- 

 rons of Provins, a small market-town sixty-six miles 

 to the east of Paris, on the road to Nancy. By 

 early writers on gardening our rose is called Rosa 

 Provincialis, or the Provence Rose. Xo one seems 

 to know why it was thus named, its origin being 

 entirely lost. Let us, therefore, assume that we 

 owe it to the Provencal poets, the gay trouba- 

 dours, who, with chivalric liberality, gave us their 

 songs and their roses ; and let us not lose its 

 beautiful poetic name : it is, indeed, worthy of it. 



The Crested Provence, Crested Moss, or Rosa 

 cristata — for it is known by these three names — 

 is said to have been discovered growing from the 

 crevice of a wall at Fribourg in Switzerland. No 

 rose can be more singular and beautiful : the buds 

 before expansion are so clasped by its fringed 



