ROSES IN GENERAL CULTIVATION. 63 
this rose, as does the street Arab inspecting 
the pies and confections in the window of a 
pastry-shop. 
The Tea Rose (Rosa Indica Odorata) may 
well be taken as a synonym for all that is 
delicately beautiful. What refinement of 
color; what subdued, yet powerful, fragrance 
do they possess! They are indeed the centre 
of loveliness; like fair maids at a reception 
surrounded by admiring groups, these lend 
beauty to the others, which may well strive 
to find a near approach to their sweet pres- 
ence, that perchance they may receive a 
smile, and borrow beauty, diffused from their 
chaste loveliness. There has always beena 
warm place in my heart for the Tea Rose, 
for, sub rosa, let me confess it, this was my 
first love (I fear no conjugal jealousy or 
censure in making this confession); a bed of 
Tea Roses planted near my father’s house 
first won me as a devotee to the rose, and by 
foliage and flower I learned to distinguish 
varieties among them before I even knew the 
names in other classes; I should now as soon 
think of doing without roses altogether as 
not to have a bed of Teas in my garden. 
Several varieties in this group were 
brought to England from China, their native 
place, in the early part of the century; 
