No. 1. 



Culture of Roses.- — Dr. Mease. 



17 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Culture of Roses. 



To THE Editor, — I send for the Cabinet 

 the followini]^ observations, translated from 

 the French by H. Meigs, secretary of the 

 American Institute, and lately read at the 

 Farmers'' Club. I find them in the New 

 York Farmer and Mechanic. 



I have always enjoyed the pleasures of 

 the flower garden, and am gratified when- 

 ever I find in the Cabinet some lively article 

 relating to my favourite amusement. I have 

 never believed that the lady who spends her 

 daily half hour among her flowers, or in 

 training her vines, is any the less qualified 

 for the duties pertaining to her household. 

 The mind busily engaged either in labour, 

 or in solicitudes incident to a responsible 

 situation, needs recreation ; without which 

 there may be danger of its elasticity and 

 strength being impaired. To the busy house- 

 wife, where is the walk so delightful as 

 among her flowers? where the labours of 

 the day so easily and enchantingly forgot- 

 ten, as in the midst of this " poetry of na- 

 ture ■?" And none, I am inclined to believe, 

 need conclude that they have not time for 

 these elegancies. Every situation will allow 

 a little time for a Utile nook, and the dress- 

 ing and the keeping of this little nook, will 

 have a happy influence in chastening and 

 refining the heart, and the better qualify us 

 for the discharge of every duty. 



Please excuse me — when I commenced I 

 did not intend to write this homily to my 

 sex: but it is a favourite subject with me, 

 and if I were not partly afraid to confess it, 

 I would acknowledge the deep interest I 

 feel even in the broad subject of agriculture, 

 in all its operations. The improvement of 

 the land — the growth of the crops — the 

 Bmell of the new-made hay, and the thresh- 

 ing of the grain, all have charms for me, 

 and whenever the Cabinet reads a lecture 

 on garden or field, it is sure to find me at 

 home. 



Henrietta B. 



New Brunswick, N. J. 



"It is now nearly three thousand years 

 since the rose was first called the Queen of 

 Flowers ! I fear not to say, that none of 

 the ancients, not even the Greeks or the 

 Romans, knew truly the merits of this deli- 

 cious production of nature. Even we, until 

 within the last fifty years, were very far 

 from knowing the value of roses. At a late] 

 date we had but quite a small number of 

 roses, of little variety in form and colour in 

 our gardens. There was not among them 

 any to be seen of those varied shapes and 



splendid colours which have recently been 

 produced by an intelligent and careful cul- 

 ture. And those beautiful flowers were 

 formerly transient — the bloom of only a sin- 

 gle season, so that we were entirely deprived 

 of them for the greatest part of the year. 

 There was but one rose which was vulgarly 

 called the Rose of Four Seasons, which 

 occasionally gave its flowers in tiie autumn, 

 but that was very precarious. Now, how- 

 ever, the whole face of things is changed. 

 Roses have been multiplied in kinds and co- 

 lours by planting their seeds repeatedly and 

 by a more knowing cultivation ; exhibiting 

 now more perfect and diversified varieties 

 of an infinite variety of shades of colour, of 

 perfume, and blooming at all seasons of the 

 year. The ancients called their rose gar- 

 dens Rosaria. 



" Monsieur Loiseleur Deslongchamps, 

 who visited the Rosaria of Paris and its 

 environs, says that he had examined that of 

 M. Victor Verdier, who has been nineteen 

 years engaged in the culture of roses, and 

 has now annually from twelve to fifleen 

 thousand Eglantine — Sweet Brier — stocks 

 grafted with all the most precious kinds of 

 roses, among them many raised from seed. 

 He has 1500 varieties of roses. 



"The garden of Mons. Gauthier contains 

 75,000 Eglantines engrafted with roses, of 

 which 6000 are choice. These Eglantine 

 stocks are about forty inches high, with the 

 roses grafted on their tops, and the ground 

 is everywhere covered with strawberries, 

 chiefly the Alpine. Among the roses are 

 those fine kinds from the Isle of Bourbon. 



" Monsieur Jacques, chief gardener of the 

 king, at Neuilly, has planted a great many 

 rose seeds and obtained many very fine va- 

 rieties. He sowed the seeds of the rose of 

 Bengal, from which we now have roses 

 called of the Isle of Bourbon. He plants 

 rose seeds every year." 



Dr. Mease. 



Agricclture seems, from a very early 

 period, to have been one of Dr. Mease's 

 principal occupations as well as enjoy- 

 ments. To this he gave the active energies 

 of his manhood and the mature judgment of 

 more advanced life. It was to the last his 

 passion. As Secretary, as Vice-President, 

 and at last as President, of the Society es- 

 tablished in this county for the promotion 

 of agriculture, his services were freely 

 given, and always with that kind of zeal 

 that showed that his heart was in the cause. 

 In its promotion he stood side by side with 

 some of tlie chief citizens Philadelphia has 



