ROSES THAT BLOOM IN JU.NE. 30 



ROSA CENTIFOLIA. 



THE PR0VIN3, OR CATJBAGE ROSE. 



This very celebrated and justly popular rose has 

 been an inhabitant of English gardens for nearly 

 three hundred years ; its native country is rather 

 obscure, though vague tradition says it comes from 

 the east, a term of great breadth and length ; how- 

 ever, Bieberstein asserts having seen it growing on the 

 Caucasus. Some supposed that this is the rose men- 

 tioned by Pliny as being a great favourite among the 

 Romans. In this taste the modern world still agree, 

 for it disputes the palm of beauty with its sisters of 

 the present day; although it has been crossed and 

 amalgamated with many others, few of the progeny 

 outvie the parent in size, beauty, perfection and fra- 

 grance. In the humid air of Britain, it blooms, for 

 two months in the summer, around almost every 

 cottage ; but with us, two or three weeks in June 

 display every flower, and if the weather is very hot, 

 they flower and fade in a day. I confess that there is 

 great difficulty in deciding on the varieties that do 

 belong to this species, but as w^e intend to describe 

 only the finest, the specific character will not aff'ect 



