HISTORY OF THE ROSE. 7 



would take it that dwarf varieties were not unknown. 

 Pliny advises the deep digging of the soil for their 

 better cultivation, and leads us to surmise the careful 

 study of varieties in a Rose garden set apart for thcFr 

 welfare. 



The raising of varieties from seed or sports was 

 well known and studied with deep interest from the 

 earliest ages of horticulture, and the fact that so little 

 is known of this wonderful flower other than the 

 parent stocks that still thrive in climes most suited to 

 its requirements is not to be wondered at. 



Amongst the creations of to-day there exist but 

 few varieties of the Roses of three hundred years ago. 

 Ihe fittest survive, and growers only perpetuate those 

 varieties worth having, or which have endeared them- 

 selves to popular fancy. The grafted or budded Rose 

 without care soon gives place to the sturdy growth 

 of the parent stock, and if not perpetuated would soon 

 be lost. It would be impossible in a chapter to give 

 extracts of all references to the Rose by the ancients, 

 or to even make such a notice representative of the 

 attention paid to it throughout the ages. India, Persia, 

 Turkey, Egypt, Spain are all full of ancient history of 

 the Rose. Its medicinal properties have been handed 

 down through time. Rose-water and Attar of Roses 

 have been valued commodities through many centuries, 

 and certain old varieties of Roses, favoured for com- 

 mercial purposes, still exist, even where others have 

 disappeared. 



If we studied the Rose catalogues of a hundred 

 years ago, we should be surprised to find how few 

 varieties live to-day. In 1596 the Provence, or Cab- 

 bage Rose, and the common Moss Rose were found in 

 well-stocked gardens, and the Austrian Yellow and 

 Austrian Copper flourished at the same time. These 

 live to-day, but there is no doubt that many other 

 varieties existed, and were prized until replaced by 

 more attractive introductions raised in our own country 

 or introduced from the Continent. In 1815 the French 

 growers began to go ahead, and in 1829 we find Mons. 



