142 THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL 



the modern up-to-date rose is of comparatively re- 

 cent origin. As an example, La France was the first 

 of its type and was produced in 1867. The rose 

 primarily consisted of native species less than a 

 hundred in number and conceded by conservative 

 botanists as comprising less than half a hundred 

 species. But from these hundred or less species 

 have sprung more than a thousand horticultural va- 

 rieties. This large number of garden varieties rep- 

 resents roses which vary most remarkably in cli- 

 matic requirements so that some may be found for 

 every quarter of the globe. 



It is in the temperate zones, however, that roses 

 flourish, and still better in the northern hemisphere. 

 It is in the same region, too, that most of the native 

 species are found. Roses do not like extreme heat, 

 and in the tropics few native species are found ex- 

 cept well up in the cool atmosphere of the moun- 

 tains. We have ample evidence that cool climates 

 are preferred by the rose from the fact that England 

 and the coast region of Oregon both grow finer roses 

 than California, though we may pick some every 

 month in the year, whereas they cannot. All the 

 parents of the modern race of roses were single, 

 though seldom are they seen in commerce today, and 

 less in California than elsewhere. Rosa rugosa and 

 R. centifolia are the wild species most commonly 

 known, though occasionally an American species is 

 cultivated. 



