138 



CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 



have made ourselves familiar. We may also hope to obtain 

 happy results by sowing seeds in the same soil, or the effect may 

 be still farther assisted by watering the plants with a solution of 

 certain chemical substances. If, by any of the above processes 

 the desired result should at some future time be fortunately at- 

 tained, the plant could probably not be placed again in ordinary 

 soil without losing its color, but would need that particular earth 

 which has power to preserve its acquired hue-- as the Hydran- 

 gea, when taken from this peculiar soil, will lose its blue and 

 resume the natural pink of its species. 



Besides the Moorish cultivation in Spain, the Rose has been 

 an object of culture to a great extent in other countries. It has 

 been cultivated principally for the beauty of its flowers, but in 

 many parts of Europe and Asia, and in the north of Africa, 

 its culture has been pursued for commercial purposes. Of its 

 abundance in Palestine, some conception may be formed from 

 the statement of travelers, that they have not only seen them 

 wild and in great profusion in the vicinity of Jerusalem, but 

 have found them in hedges, intermingled with pomegranate 

 trees. Doubday states that, when the Eastern Christians made 

 one of their processions in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 

 Jerusalem, which continued some two hours, many persons were 

 present with sacks full of rose-petals, which they threw by hand- 

 fuls on the people, and in such immense quantities, that many 

 were covered with them, and they were scattered all over the 

 pavement. In Syria and Persia it has been cultivated from a 

 very early period, and the ancient name of the former, Suristan, 

 is said to signify the land of roses. Damascus, Cashmere, Bar- 

 bary, and Fayoum in Egypt, all cultivated the Rose extensively 

 for its distilled oil or essence. Very little is extant respecting 

 the culture of the Rose in the middle ages, but that it was 

 cultivated and valued, is known by its having been worn by 

 knights at the tournament, as an emblem of their devotion to 

 grace and beauty. According to Loudon, " Ludovico Yerthema, 

 who' traveled in the East in 1503, observed that Tsessa was 

 particularly celebrated for roses, and that he saw a great quantity 



