The Rose Garden. 



America, whose tops are covered with eternal snow ; and others in the dreary wilds of 

 Greenland, Kamtschatka, and Iceland ; while in Siberia there are several interesting 

 species. On the other hand, if we turn to warmer climates, we discover that Mexico, 

 Abyssinia, China, Persia, India, and Egypt have their Roses ; and even on the out- 

 skirts of the mighty Sahara one species is found, gladdening the approaches to the 

 desert with its clusters of white flowers, though often 



Born to blush unseen, 



And waste their sweetness on the desert air. 



Who were the first people to bring this flower from its natural habitats, to be a 

 dweller in cultivated grounds, must ever remain a matter of conjecture. Doubtless it 

 attracted the notice of the virtuoso in plants at a very early date; probably when 

 they were valued for food only, or as objects of curiosity, or for their medicinal 

 properties. We may follow in imagination the busy doings 'of the plant collector in 

 the earliest times ; we may fancy him gathering and fixing in one spot the beautiful 

 productions scattered around him, and it is natural to suppose that the most beautiful 

 or the most useful would be first collected. This surely would give an early date to 

 the civilisation of the Queen of Flowers. And doubtless the Rose has a claim to our 

 regard as well for its high antiquity as for its beauty, variety, and fragrance. 



In the sacred Scriptures we read of " Him who was to make the wilderness be 

 glad, and the desert to blossom as the Rose ;" we read also of " the Rose of Sharon," 

 and " the Rose of Jericho." 



In the Book of Wisdom (chap, ii., ver. 7, 8) the following passage occurs : " Let 

 us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointment, and let no flower of the spring pass by 

 us. Let us crown ourselves with Rosebuds before they be withered." Hence it is 

 apparent that the practices so common with the Greeks and Romans of crowning 

 themselves with flowers at their Bacchanalian feasts, and on various other occasions, 

 were resorted to in these; early times, and most probably were borrowed from the Jews. 

 Again, in the Book of Ecclesiasticus (chap, xxxix., ver., 13) we find the following 

 passage : " Hearken unto me, ye holy children, and bud forth as a Rose growing by 

 the brook of the field." 



It has been questioned whether the flowers met with in translations of the ancient 

 writers are identical with those known under like names in the present day. Indeed, 

 what is commonly known as the Rose of Jericho is a little cruciferous plant with 

 white flowers very different from our Roses. I do not, however, judge it necessary to 

 enter deeply into this question, indeed it would be out of place to do so here ; but I 

 would remark in passing, that the non-existence of the wild forms in those countries 

 at the present time is not conclusive evidence, to my mind, that they never flourished 

 there ; or, even were it so, the productions of other countries might have been intro- 

 duced to administer to the comforts and enjoyments of those who employed them 

 alike in the ceremonies of their fetes and in the splendid imagery of their writings. 



