8 INTRODUCTION. 



In the production of new roses, France takes the lead. 

 A host of cultivators great and small Laffay, Vibert, 

 Verdier, Margottin, Trouillard, Portemer, and numberless 

 others have devoted themselves to the pleasant art of 

 intermarrying the various families and individual varieties 

 of the rose, and raising from them seedlings whose num- 

 bers every year may be counted by hundreds of thousands. 

 Of these, a very few only are held worthy of preservation ; 

 and all the rest are consigned to the rubbish heap. The 

 English, too, have of late done much in raising new 

 varieties ; though their climate is less favorable than that 

 of France, and their cultivators less active and .zealous in 

 the work. Some excellent roses, too, have been produced 

 in America. Our climate is very favorable to the raising 

 of seedlings, and far more might easily be accomplished 

 here. 



In France and England, the present rage for roses is 

 intense. It is stimulated by exhibitions, where nursery- 

 men, gardeners, landed gentlemen, and reverend clergy- 

 men of the Established Church, meet in friendly competi- 

 tion for the prize. While the French excel all others in 

 the production of new varieties, the English are unsur- 

 passed in the cultivation of varieties already known ; and 

 nothing can exceed the beauty and perfection of some of 

 the specimens exhibited at their innumerable rose-shows. 

 If the severity of our climate has its disadvantages, the 

 clearness of our air and the warmth of our summer sun 



