Ancient Gardening-. 



OSSIP on Ancient Gardening" is the title of a German work 

 recently translated and published in England by Herr Wiis- 

 temann. The three principal topics discussed are the 

 practice of grafting among the ancients, the cultivation of 

 the papyrus, and the cultivation and use of the rose. In 

 aiMition, the book contains much additional information, 

 in the form of notes, respecting the agricultural, horticul- 

 tural, and botanical notions of the ancients, the subject- 

 matter having been originally prepared in the form of 

 lectures for the Society for the Promotion of Horticulture, at 

 Gotha, Germany. 



In respect to the cultivation and appreciation of the rose 

 among the ancients, M. Wiistemann gives us the following information : 



The love of the ancients for roses was something fanatical. We do not so much refer to 

 the poets, for probably the modern and the antique bards may vie with each other in the 

 use of the rose as a commonplace of poetical illustration; but we allude to a strong passion 

 for the visible, tangible, scent-giving rose, as something to be enjoyed by all the five senses, 

 scarcely excluding that of hearing, for a rustle of many roses must have attended some of 

 the more extraordinary manifestations of the idolatry. A time without roses was a contin- 

 gency to be avoided at any cost; and the Romans, though the mildness of their climate 

 allowed the adored flower to grow at an unusually late season, could not submit to the pri- 

 vations of a winter. Not only were whole ship-loads of roses brought from Alexandria in 

 the inclement season, but various means were devised for p ^serving the gathered flowers 

 throughout the year with as much freshness as was attainable. The wreath of roses of 

 which one reads and writes about so often, without any other image than of a curved twig 

 with a tolerably rich supply of floral ornaments, was capable of a high degree of elabora- 

 tion, for the Roman florists looked upon an enlacement of whole flowers as an exceedingly 

 meagre affair. For a grand work of art, they took the rose-leaves separately, laid them 

 over each other like scales, and thus produced a sort of fragrant sausage. 



This refinement in the construction of wreaths is sufficient to show that the luxurious 

 ancients not only insisted on the constant presence of roses, but were determined to have 

 them in as huge a quantity as possible. The anecdotes that illustrate this Torm of the floral 

 passion could scarcely be surpassed in wonder by the wildest imagination. 



To enjoy the scent of roses at meals, (says Herr Wiistemann,) an abundance of rose-leaves 

 was shaken out upon the table, so that the dishes were completely surrounded. By an arti- 

 ficial contrivance, roses, during meals, descended on the guests from above. Heliogabalus 

 in his folly caused violets and roses to be showered down upon his guests in such quantities 

 that a number of them, being unable to .extricate themselves, were suffocated in flowers. 

 During meal-times they reclined upon cushions stuffed with rose-leaves, or made a couch of 

 the leaves themselves. The floor, too, was strewed with roses, and in this custom great 

 luxury was displayed. Cleopatra, at an enormous expense, procured roses for a feast which 



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