THE HISTORY OF THE ROSE 



EDWARD TYRRELL, TORONTO. 



1"" HE history of the Rose is a subject 

 worthy of most careful study and 

 treatment. I have been at a loss to find a 

 starting point, have searched many books to 

 learn something of its history, but have not 

 been very successful. The most ancient 

 quotation I have read is a translation by Mr. 

 Wm. Gaul from the writing of Sappho, the 

 Greek poetess, who was born 600 years B.C. : 

 " Would love -j^point some flower to reign. 

 In matchless beauty on the plain. 

 The Rose (manKind will all agree), 

 The Rose, the queen of flowers should be." 



It is indisputably a flower of antiquity, al- 

 though it graces alike the temperate regions 

 of Europe, Asia, Africa and America. It 

 has been a symbolic flower in every age, it 

 was renowned for its medicinal properties, 

 was abundantly used in joyous festivities 

 and religious ceremonies, and enters into 

 commercial life to a very large extent. 

 Dean Hole writes, " the roses of all lands 

 are here, but so changed, so strengthened by 

 climate, diet and care, so refined by inter- 

 marriage with other noble families, that 

 they would no more be recognized by their 

 kinsfolk at home than Cinderella at the ball 

 of her sisters." Petsia, China and Japan 

 are the countries from which we have re- 

 ceived our best originals. The Rosa 

 Centifolia (Cabbage or Province Rose), the 

 oldest of all, and one which exceeds all 

 others in its beauty, form and odor ; from 

 Persia, 1569. Moss Rose, from Persia. 

 Banksian Rose, named after Lady Banks, 

 from China. China Rose (Rosa Indica), 

 the old familiar monthly rose, from China, 

 1789. Fairy Rose (Lawrenceana, Minia- 

 ture or Toy Rose), China, 1810. Tea 

 Rose (Indicata Odorate), pink, 1819; yel- 

 low, 1824; the most celebrated group, and 

 the true aristocrasy of the Rose world, from 

 China. The first person to exhibit tea 

 scented roses was the Rev. Mr. Hillings- 

 worth in an exhibition at Hanover Square 

 rooms, London, in 1855. Noisette Rose, 



named after Mons. P. Noisette, originated 

 in America, supposed to be a cross between 

 Alusk and China. Musk Rose (Rosa 

 Moschata), Persia, 1600. Polyantha Rose 

 (Rosa Multiflora), Japan. Turner took the 

 first prize in 1893 for the Crimson Rambler 

 of this class. Ayrshire Rose (Rosa Arven- 

 sis), Europe. Stocks for budding are from 

 the Dog Rose or Briar, (Rosa Carmina), 

 Manietti or Wild Rose, from Italy about 

 1830. 



To the French we are indebted for some 

 of the choicest ornaments of the rose gar- 

 den, as the rose is a pre-eminent object of 

 horticulture with them, and the skill of the 

 French has originated many new and beauti- 

 ful varieties, yet England is considered to 

 be the true home of the H. P. rose, and in 

 growing perfectly those already known none 

 can surpass the British. The English cH- 

 mate is better suited to its perfect develop- 

 ment. 



That the title of " Queen of the Flowers " 

 is no modern assumption for the -rose, has 

 ever been seriously questioned, yet we find 

 a Scotch poet (Dunbar) who lived about a 

 century before Shakespeare championing the 

 title for the rose, for he asserted the dignity 

 and beauty of the rose to be superior to the 

 Thistle of Scotland. 



The rose appears to have first attracted 

 attention for its medicinal properties. Pliny 

 wrote about it more fully than any other of 

 the ancient writers, and his system of culti- 

 vation is as necessary to-day as when he 

 wrote, and for the garden is just as essential. 

 He says that the genuine rose is indebted 

 for its qualities to the nature of the soil, and 

 considers that roses without perfume are 

 not genuine roses. niny's writings, how- 

 ever, refer mostly to the medicinal proper- 

 ties of the rose, and he gives so many re- 

 cipes that one would think the rose would 

 remove or cure all the ills flesh is heir to. 

 But a German writer (Rosenburg), in 1631, 



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