10 THE SUMMER ROSE GARDEN. 



season it had entirely lost its moss, and had pro- 

 duced semi-double flowers, the exact resemblance 

 of the Scarlet Provence. The White Moss is 

 another instance of this singular quality, for that 

 originated from a sporting branch; the Mossy 

 de Meaux is also a curious deviation, the history 

 of which will be given in the descriptive enume- 

 ration following ; the Crested Moss, or Provence, 

 is another case in point. It seems, therefore, very 

 feasible that the Provence Rose, from being cul- 

 tivated in Italy through so many ages, produced 

 from seed, or more probably from a sporting 

 branch, the Double Moss Hose, that is, a double 

 Cabbage or Provence Eose, covered with that 

 glandular excrescence which we term moss ; this 

 branch or plant was propagated, and the variety 

 handed down to us, perhaps, as much admired 

 in the present day as when first discovered. These 

 Eoses always have been, and I hope always will 

 be, favourites : for what can be more elegant than 

 the bud of the Moss Eose, with its pure rose- 

 colour, peeping through that beautiful and unique 

 envelope ? 



The first in the catalogue is the Asepala, or 

 Eosa muscosa asepala ; a new variety, something 

 like the Provence Dianthseflora, curious, sometimes 

 very pretty. The Blush Moss is a most beautiful 

 variety of the colour of that well-known rose, the 

 Celestial, so exactly intermediate between the 

 White Moss and the common, that it is quite ne- 



