THE ROSE 249 



yalue of a rose. Then there is one other charac- 

 teristic of the rose which has hitherto scarcely 

 been considered by anyone, yet which seemingly 

 lies within the possibility of development. This 

 is the matter of increasing the amount of pulp 

 that incases the seed pod of the rose. So much 

 attention has been given to the flower that no one 

 has given heed to the fruit. But it is familiarly 

 known that the rose belongs to the same natu- 

 ral order with the apple, the pear, and our 

 other chief fruit growers of the orchard. So 

 it is a reasonable assumption that this plant 

 could be educated, were sufficient attention 

 paid to the matter, to produce an edible 

 fruit. 



Even as the case stands, the fruit of some of 

 the wild roses is sometimes eaten by children, 

 though its proportion of pulp to seed is so small 

 as to be almost negligible. And what has 

 been accomplished with other members of the 

 tribe makes it seem probable that the pulp 

 could be developed and the seed correspond- 

 ingly decreased until the fruit became quite 

 transformed. 



I have said that the rose is the universal flower. 

 Doubtless it already takes first rank among the 

 flowers that man has brought under cultivation. 

 But if it could be made to supplement its won- 



