PREFACE. 



The commencement and partial preparation of this work assisted 

 to beguile the tedium of a winter's residence from home, where. even 

 Orange and Magnolia groves, with the luxuriant vegetation of a semi- 

 tropical region, could scarcely dispel the ennui attending a life of 

 idleness. Oiir especial object has been to throw around the culture 

 of the Rose a halo of pleasant thoughts and associations ; and while to 

 the mere cultivator there may seem much irrelevant matter of his- 

 tory, poetry, and the like, we think that it will not thus seem to all. 

 For the classical scholar, the early history of the Rose, and its con- 

 nection with the manners and customs of the two great nations of a 

 former age, will impart to it no slight interest ; while the various 

 poetic effusions, which we have endeavored to string together in a 

 multifarious garland, will clothe our favorite flower with additional 

 charms in the eyes of many, and render it perhaps more attractive 

 with the gentler sex, to whom pre-eminently belong the culture and 

 the care of flowers. 



For many interesting facts in the History and Culture of the Rose, 

 we are indebted to Deslongchamps, Vibert, Laffay, and several anony- 

 mous writers. To the former we wish most fully to express our obli- 

 gations, both for the plan of this work and for many interesting facts 

 and researches, to which we cannot conveniently attach his name in 

 the body of the work. 



Upon the classification we have bestowed much thought, and al- 

 though we do not feel quite satisfied with the system we have adopted, 

 it is the best that occurs to us in the present condition of rose culture. 

 The amateur will, we think, find the labor of selection much dimin- 

 ished by the increased simplicity of the mode we have adopted, while 

 the commercial gardener will in nowise be injured by the change. 



