20 THE ROSE GARDEN. 



infer that practical men in those days held tenets such as these, or that they were 

 merely the effusions of the brain of some would-be savant in horticultural matters ? 

 As gardening was then a practical art, we cannot suppose the former to have been 

 the case, since the very first experiment would throw a doubt on such a propo- 

 sition, which the failure of every subsequent attempt would confirm ; and thus the 

 most credulous would soon be undeceived. The latter would certainly seem the 

 juster inference. Without wishing to say any thing derogatory to the capabilities 

 of our forefathers in the art, we certainly were not aware that the sun of Horti- 

 cultural science had reached the meridian so long since as 1654, and feel some 

 concern, as well as humiliation, that nearly two centuries should elapse without our 

 profiting by so wonderful a discovery ! We cannot forbear quoting certain lines 

 of Virgil, met with in our school days, and to which, perhaps, the above writer was 

 indebted for his idea : 



Inseritur vero et foetu nucis arbutus horrida ; 



Et steriles platani malos gessere valentes : 



Castanese fagus ornusque incanuit albo 



Flore piri, glandernque sues fregere sub ulmis. 



\_Georg. lib. ii. ver. 69 — 72* 



Such are the workings of the imagination, that the black Roses produced by 

 grafting on black-currant bushes, the blue Roses of the Moors, and the oft-talked- 

 of yellow Moss, are already before our eyes ! Could we but retain them there ! 

 But, alas ! this were impossible. Creatures of the imagination, a moment's sober 

 reflection dissipates you in thin air ! 



But to be serious. As late as 1762, Linnaeus appears to have acknowledged 

 only fourteen species. In an edition of Miller's Gardeners' Dictionary, published 

 in 1768, thirty-one species are described. It was only at the close of the last 

 century, and the dawning of the present, that the garden varieties of Roses were 

 really recognised and esteemed. In 1789 the Chinese Rose was introduced; and 

 in 1810 China furnished us with the Tea- scented also. At this period nearly all 

 the varieties known bloomed in summer only : there were few autumnal Roses. 

 In 1812 came forth that exquisite variety, still unsurpassed, the " Rose du Roi," 

 or Crimson Perpetual, which was raised in the Royal Gardens of St. Cloud, then 

 under the care of Le Comte Lelieur. 



In 1799 Miss Lawrence published " A Collection of Roses from Nature," 

 which contained ninety coloured plates, including many of the most beautiful 

 species and varieties then known. In 1820 the " Rosarum Monographia," by 

 J. Lindley, appeared ; in which seventy-eight species, besides sub-species, are 

 described, and thirteen of them figured. This work is of a scientific character, 



* The thin-leaved arbute hazel-graffs receives, 

 And planes huge apples bear, that bore but leaves. 

 Thus mastful beech the bristly chestnut bears, 

 And the wild ash is white with blooming pears. 

 And greedy swine from grafted elms are fad 

 With falling acorns that on oaks are bred. [Drydcn's Virgil. 



