a HISTORY OF THE ROSE. 



Desportes issuing a catalogue of 2,000 named varieties^ 

 few of which, however, survive. This gives us an 

 ample illustration of how easy a thing it is to create 

 and then lose all trace of a flower. In ancient days 

 writers were few, and floriculture, although followed 

 for profit and pleasure, found few scribes to hand down 

 to posterity descriptions that to-day would be so dearly 

 prized. 



We expect too much when we look to find a list 

 of the Roses grown in the hanging gardens of ancient 

 Babylon or a tradesman's catalogue of the days of 

 Xero ! To find the parent stock growing in any clime 

 is sufficient evidence to me of Rose gardens of the 

 past, and the evFdence of the introduction of thousands 

 of varieties that have come and gone in the last 300 

 years, proves how easy it is, given the parent flower, 

 to produce a novelty. A good Rose is another matter, 

 for but a small percentage of all the new seedlings 

 grown are thought fit for commerce, and much de- 

 pends upon whether a new variety is an improvement 

 upon an older one of a similar character. 



Almost all the modern introductions are varieties 

 that must be budded or grafted on to a parent stocky 

 and that do badly if grown upon their own roots. These 

 wonderful novelties will not contribute to the living 

 history of the Rose, and in the event of a great upheaval 

 in civilisation they will disappear, and become, if re- 

 corded, only gilded history of the past. The Roses 

 born to last can only be those that do well upon their 

 own roots, such as Damask Roses, Moss Roses, Pro- 

 vence Roses, China Roses, Alba Roses, and others. 

 Such will live and hand themselves on, even against 

 our will, and, although the raiser may be forgotten, 

 still he lives, and leaves the earth a brighter place for 

 having existed. 



