16 The Rose Garden. 



M. Descemet and M. Vibert, and the taste spread throughout Europe. It has been 

 said that the collection of the former at St Denis was destroyed by the English troops 

 in 1815, but I believe they were sold to M. Vibert and removed to Chenevieres-sur- 

 Marne on the approach of the allied troops. 



Monsieur Vibert, of whom we have just spoken, was one of the most celebrated 

 cultivators among the French. He founded his establishment at Chenevieres-sur- 

 Marne, in the vicinity of Paris, in 1815, at which time the only Moss Rose known 

 in France was the Red or common one. He removed a few years later to Angers, 

 where the climate is more favourable for the pursuance of that science to which he 

 was entirely devoted. To him we owe the existence of those old favourites, Aimee 

 Vibert, Cynthie, D'Aguesseau, Julie d'Etang^s, Blanchefleur, La Ville de Londres, 

 Madeline, Gloire des Mousseuses, Jacques Lafitte, General Brea, Ornement des 

 Jardins, Pius IX., and a host of striped and spotted Roses. It is worthy of remark 

 that the latter, though much admired and cultivated in France, have never been 

 very popular in this country. 



M. Laffay, another distinguished cultivator, owns a list of names no less worthy. 

 Who, even among modern Rose cultivators, is not familiar with Archduc Charles, 

 Fabvier, Brennus, William Jesse, Madame Laffay, Coup d'Heb, La Reine, and 

 Duchess of Sutherland ; these and others of nearly equal merit were raised in his 

 garden. His residence at Bellevue, near Paris, where these Roses were raised, was 

 a most enviable one ; he lived surrounded with Roses and Chestnut trees, and his 

 garden, though not extensive, commanded a wide and most agreeable prospect 

 The soil was a stiff I had almost said rank clay, and never appeared to have had 

 much labour bestowed on its amelioration. 



Both M. Vibert and M. Laffay were engaged in the cultivation of Roses for 

 many years, and their enterprise and industry brought them a full reward. In the 

 Preface to his Catalogue, published towards the close of 1846, M. Vibert writes to 

 this effect: "My establishment, which I founded in 1815, and where Roses only 

 are cultivated for sale, is the first of the kind which had existence in France. Thirty- 

 five years' practice in this branch of Horticulture, with numerous and reiterated 

 experiments made in every mode of cultivation ; a long habit of seeing, studying, 

 and of comparing the productions of this beautiful genus such are at the least the 

 claims I have to public confidence. But I know all the obligations under which I 

 remain from the long and sustained kindness with which amateurs and the members 

 of the profession have honoured me ; and it is in reply to the honourable proofs of 

 concern which have been so often addressed to me, that I am resolved not entirely 

 to renounce my profession. To cover the expense of my garden, and to use my 

 time sparingly, is the end which I propose to myself. Without seeking to extend 

 my connections, I shall receive willingly orders from persons sufficiently reasonable 

 to value what time and care it costs in the present day to obtain novelties really 



