Roses of Yesterday 469 



simple flower garden which needs no highly-skilled 

 care, still are happy in the old Summer Roses I have 

 named. 



A Rose hedge is the most beautiful of all garden 

 walls and the most ancient. Professor Koch says 

 that long before men customarily surrounded their 

 gardens with walls, that they had Rose hedges. He 

 tells us that each of the four great peoples of Asia 

 owned its own beloved Rose, carried in all wander- 

 ings, until at last the four became common to all 

 races of men. Indo-Germanic stock chose the hun- 

 dred-leaved red Rose, Rosa gallic a (the best Rose 

 for conserves). Rosa damascena, which blooms 

 twice a year, and the Musk Rose were cherished 

 by the Semitic people ; these were preferred for 

 attar of Roses and Rose water. The yellow Rose, 

 Rosa lutea^ or Persian Rose, was the flower of 

 the Turkish Mongolian people. Eastern Asia 

 is the fatherland of the Indian and Tea Roses. 

 The Rose has now become as universal as sunlight. 

 Even in Iceland and Lapland grows the lovely Rosa 

 nitida. 



We say these Roses are common to all peoples, 

 but we have never in America been able to grow 

 yellow Roses in ample bloom in our gardens. 

 Many that thrive in English gardens are unknown 

 here. The only yellow garden Rose common in 

 old gardens was known simply as the " old yellow 

 Rose," or Scotch Rose, but it came from the far 

 East. In a few localities the yellow Eglantine was 

 seen. 



The picturesque old custom of paying a Rose for 



