CULTURE OF THE EOSE. 



CHAPTER IX 



GENERAL CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 



S before stated, the Rose was the theme 

 of the earliest poets of antiquity ; and it 

 was doubtless one of the first plants se- 

 lected to adorn the gardens which were 

 laid out around the new habitations 

 constructed upon the exchange of the 

 wandering for a civilized mode of life. 

 The most ancient authors upon husbandry whose works are 

 extant, have all treated of the culture of Roses. Theophrastus 

 among the Greeks ; and among the Romans, Yarro, Columella, 

 Palladius, and Pliny. To Pliny are we specially indebted for 

 information on this subject, as the entire fourth chapter of the 

 twentieth book of his Natural History is devoted to Roses ; and 

 they are also occasionally mentioned in other parts of the work. 

 But after all the information thus obtained, much yet remains 

 to be desired ; and although we find in other ancient authors 

 some curious facts bearing upon other points in the history of 

 the Rose, they are mostly so general in their character as to give 

 us very little insight into the actual cultuie of the Rose at those 

 periods. 



The profuseness with which they were used among the Greeks, 

 the Romans, the Egyptians, and other ancient nations, in their 

 religious solemnities, their public ceremonies, and even in the 



