22 THE ROSE GARDEN. 



Minis, Herts ; and a vast number of them were once growing in the Horticul- 

 tural Gardens at Chiswick. 



About twenty-five years ago, Mrs. Gaussen had formed a Rosarium at 

 Brookmans, in Hertfordshire, which contained many varieties. The form of 

 the ground it occupied was an oblong square, walled in, the walls covered with 

 climbing Roses and other plants. There was a variety of beds formed and 

 planted with much taste : in the centre stood a temple covered with climbing 

 Roses. The whole was blinded from distant view by a wide laurel bank ; and 

 the surprise created on suddenly entering was most agreeable, and the effect magical. 

 " Here," says an eminent cultivator with whom I was in conversation the other 

 day, " I first saw the Rose Ruga, which was then recently introduced ; and I 

 remarked to Mr. Murdoch, who was gardener there, that it was a hybrid of the 

 Tea-scented. It was beautifully in bloom, and struck me at the time as a gem 

 of the first water. I had not at this time met with any of the Sempervirens 

 Roses; the first of which, the Alba Plena, I saw in flower soon afterwards, on 

 a wall at Dropmore, the seat of Lady Grenville." 



The next collection which demands our notice is that at Broxbournebury, 

 the seat of George J. Bosanquet, Esq., where there are at the present time a great 

 number of very fine specimens. In addition to all the old and esteemed varieties, 

 there are in cultivation here most of the modern ones; such having been added 

 as they were offered for sale by the raisers or their friends. I believe this to 

 be the best private collection of Roses in England ; at least, I know of none to 

 surpass or equal it. But of this Rose-garden we shall have occasion to speak 

 more at large hereafter. 



It might have been foretold, that the rare beauties the gardens above men- 

 tioned contained — whether viewed on the plants, arrayed in the simple loveli- 

 ness of nature, or when dressed for the tables of the Floral fete? — would cap- 

 tivate all lovers of flowers, and spread a taste for their cultivation. And such 

 was really the case. They became known and their worth appreciated. Florists 

 and amateurs vied with each other in the cultivation of their favourite, each 

 desirous of producing it in the most perfect state. Its characters were thus 

 fairly developed ; improvement followed on improvement ; and it soon became 

 universally popular. And why ? Shall Anacreon answer ? 'Podov a> cpepiarov 

 avdwv, " The Rose is the most beautiful of flowers." 



