ROSES IN GENERAL CULTIVA TION. 63 



this rose, as does the street Arab inspecting 

 the pies and confections in the window of a 

 pastry-shop. 



The Tea Rose (Rosa Indica Odorata} may 

 well be taken as a synonym for all that is 

 delicately beautiful. What refinement of 

 color; what subdued, yet powerful, fragrance 

 do they possess ! They are indeed the centre 

 of loveliness ; like fair maids at a reception 

 surrounded by admiring groups, these lend 

 beauty to the others, which may well strive 

 to find a near approach to their sweet pres- 

 ence, that perchance they may receive a 

 smile, and borrow beauty, diffused from their 

 chaste loveliness. There has always been a 

 warm place in my heart for the Tea Rose, 

 for, sub rosa, let me confess it, this was my 

 first love (I fear no conjugal jealousy or 

 censure in making this confession) ; a bed of 

 Tea Roses planted near my father's house 

 first won me as a devotee to the rose, and by 

 foliage and flower I learned to distinguish 

 varieties among them before I even knew the 

 names in other classes ; I should now as soon 

 think of doing without roses altogether as 

 not to have a bed of Teas in my garden. 



Several varieties in this group were 

 brought to England from China, their native 

 place, in the early part of the century; 



