UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 109 



She told me also that all the apple and pear 

 tribes are placed in the natural order of Rosa- 

 ceae ; in the rose, the calyx, which is pitcher- 

 shaped, encloses the germ ; and in the former 

 the germ is beneath the calyx. She mentioned, 

 too, as a curious circumstance of the dog-rose 

 or eglantine, that the farther North it is found, 

 the more woolly are the styles, while to the 

 Southward, as in Madeira, they have no hairs 

 whatever. 



The rose seems to be prized particularly in 

 Persia, where it is the chief ornament of 

 the garden. In that very entertaining book 

 " Sketches of Persia," the author mentions a 

 breakfast which was given to him at a beautiful 

 spot in the vicinity of Shiraz : 



" We were surprised and delighted to find that 

 we were to enjoy this meal on a stack of roses ! 

 On this a carpet was laid, and we sat cross- 

 legged like the natives. The stack, which was 

 as large as a common one of hay in England, 

 had been formed without much trouble, from 

 the heaps or cocks of rose leaves, collected 

 before they were sent into the city to be dis- 

 tilled." 



In Fosters travels, too, Mary shewed me a 

 description of the city of Kashmire, where the 

 houses though slightly built, have flat roofs of 

 sufficient strength to support a covering of 

 earth ; this is plapted with roses and other 



VOL. III. L 



