THE MUSK HOSE. 155 



are remarkably small and fragrant. There are, 

 doubtless, many seminal varieties of the species ; 

 their flowers differing in colour, but possessing 

 the leading features of the original. Olivier, 

 who travelled in the first six years of the French 

 republic, mentions a rose-tree at Ispahan, called 

 the ' Chinese Eose Tree,' fifteen feetliigh, formed 

 ])y the union of several stems, each four or five 

 inches in diameter. Seeds from this tree were 

 sent to Paris, and produced the common Musk 

 Rose. It seems therefore possible and probable, 

 that this has been the parent of nearly all their 

 garden roses ; for, like most Orientals, tlieir 

 habits are not, and have not been, enterprising 

 enough to stimulate them to import roses from 

 distant countries. Large and very old plants of 

 the iNIusk Rose may sometimes be seen in the 

 gardens of old English country-houses. 



Eponine is a pure white, and very double va- 

 riety, one of the prettiest of the group. Princesse 

 de Nassau is a distinct and good variety, very 

 fragrant and blooming in large clusters ; the 

 flower-buds, before they open, are nearly yellow, 

 changing to cream-colour as they expand. The 

 Ranunculus, or new White Musk, is merely an 

 improved variety of the old or original Musk 

 Rose, with flowers more double. 



Rivers's ]Musk, raised here from Italian seed, 

 is a pretty, free-blooming rose, with flowers of a 

 rosy buff, and very fragrant. 



