THE BOOK OF ROSES. 51 



Bengal, the Tea rose, the Hundred-leaved, the 

 Noisette, and several others, which is a self- 

 convicted absurdity. It must be admitted, how- 

 ever, that roses are frequently produced uniting 

 the specific characters of several varieties. But 

 there never was a rose which combined the 

 specific character of the Rosa simplicifolia, the 

 Rosa lutea, and Rosa eglanteria ; and it is con- 

 sequently these species we are inclined to esta- 

 blish as the only generic species in existence. 



Gardeners produce an infinite variety of car- 

 nations, ranunculuses, tulips, dahlias, camellias, 

 from simple sowing ; and there is no reason to 

 suppose that the same inexhaustible bounty 

 of nature may not be applied to the arbitrary 

 diversification of the rose, as of any other flower. 

 A variety of causes tend to produce variety both 

 in the animal and vegetable world, without in- 

 volving the mysteries of hybridity ; and though 

 the celebrated Noisette rose is supposed to have 

 been produced by the union of a China rose 

 and Musk rose, Monsieur Noisette had no 

 means of ascertaining that the variety did not 

 arise from some single seed of the China rose 

 which escaped impregnation, and derived its 

 new characters from accidental causes. 



