OLD AND NEW ROSES. 83 



wreaths of roses upon his head and around his neck, sitting upon a 

 cushion made of the finest of Malta linen, full of sweet-scented rose- 

 buds. Cleopatra and Nero extravagantly decorated their banquet- 

 ing halls with rosy ornaments and garlands; and distinguished 

 guests were greeted amid roseate bowers, while the merry 

 dance went round in an atmosphere redolent with roscal odors. 

 Every evidence exists that we must connect the rose with the lore 

 of antiquity ; for the ancients preserved its luxur}', and it was 

 the ornament of their festivals, their altars, and their tombs ; 

 while their poets made it the syml)ol of innocence and moilesty, 

 of grace and beauty. It is probable that the Romans had roses 

 of similar species with some of those we now cultivate, since they 

 practised sowing the seed, as well as propagating by cuttings, b}^ 

 grafting, and by budding. Hot-house growth was also understood 

 and practised, says Seneca ; and it was a boast to have carried 

 this flower so far towards perfection as to surpass the cultivators 

 of Alexandria, Memphis, and Rliodes. That the rose never 

 fatigues is shown b}' the reputation it has maintained through 

 all the ages. Although a hundred generations have succeeded 

 each other, it is still a queenly belle, notwithstanding it did not 

 escape the devastation attendant on the revolution of empires, or 

 the more desolating invasions of the Huns and the Goths. 



But while we do not ignore an historical interest in the rose, 

 the subject of more practical inquiry is, what roses can we suc- 

 cessfully grow in our gardens? I answer, none but such as are 

 planted under the conditions which the laws of nature certainl3' 

 require, followed by special watchfulness until the trees become 

 well rooted and established in vigorous growth ; and then intelli- 

 gent study must be given to the varied habits and conditions of 

 growth of each variet}'. The most popular, because the most 

 useful, roses, are the Remontants, whose special beauty consists 

 in the shell form of the large petals, softly recurving in their glis- 

 tening freshness of color ; and for decorative purposes, the varieties 

 should be the free-flowering kinds, noted for elegance and bril- 

 liancy en masse, in preference to those possessed of great symmetrj- 

 of form. Tlie favorites of a generation ago — Madame Zoutman, 

 Blanche-fleur, Ch6n6dol6, and Paul Perras — are unsurpassed to- 

 day in qualit}', hardiness, and fragrance combined ; but the 

 Remontants, on account of their freedom of bloom, are now re- 

 garded as the most important of the many groups of roses cultivated. 

 The modern classes of the rose claim no less than twenty species 



