DESCRIPTION OF THE ROSE. 179 



flowers when close to the ground, wherever it is possible 

 to make budded roses grow, they ought to be preferred ; 

 for, on stems from one to two feet in height, the flowers 

 will not be Boiled : they are also brought near to the eye, 

 and the plant forms a neat and pretty object." 



Rosa Hybrida Bourboniensis. The China Rose and 

 one of the eld Damask Perpetuals, known as the Red 

 Four Seasons, have produced between them a distinct 

 family of hybrids known as the Bourbon roses. They are 

 so called because they were originated on the Isle of 

 Bourbon. One M. Perichon, an inhabitant of that island, 

 in planting a quantity of seedling roses raised for a hedge, 

 found one very different from the rest, and planted it 

 apart. On flowering, it proved to be distinct from any 

 rose before known. Soon after, in the year 1817, a French 

 botanist, M. Breon, arriving at the Isle of Bourbon as cura- 

 tor of the government botanical garden established there, 

 investigated the case of this remarkable seedling, and 

 became convinced that it was produced between the two 

 species named above ; since these were then the only roses 

 on the island, and both were freely used as hedges. M. 



