THE BOOK OP ROSES. 5 



was discovered by Messieurs Humboldt and 

 Bonpland. The town of San Pedro is situated 

 in 19 of latitude ; in direct refutation of those 

 botanists who pretend that roses are *not to be 

 found under 20. But the Montezuma is not 

 the only JVIexican rose. History attests that 

 roses were abundant in the province at the 

 Spanish conquest; witness the apostrophe of 

 the Emperor Guatimozin to his favourite mi- 

 nister, when extended on beds of burning coal, 

 intended by the conquerors to torture them 

 into the discovery of their hidden treasures. 



But though the species already cited are 

 the only ones we are at present authorized to 

 attribute to America, it is probable that more 

 will be discovered ; the greatest variety of 

 roses being assigned by botanists to such coun- 

 tries as have been most minutely herborized. 

 The insufficiency of our researches is probably 

 the only cause that so large a portion of the 

 American continent is held to be unproductive 

 of roses. It seems unlikely, indeed, that France 

 should possess twenty-four species of native 

 roses, and the whole continent of North and 

 South America only fourteen ; nor is it to be 

 credited that the rose-tree ceases to flourish 

 within the twentieth degree of latitude, when 

 we remember that we are indebted to Mr. Salt 

 for the discovery of a strongly characterized 

 species in Abyssinia, at 10 of latitude. 



