254 



THE AMERICAN 



THE ROSE. 



The liose is preeminently the flower of tlie 

 millions. History, romance and poetry would 

 not be complete without the rose, l^any flowers 

 are more distinguished for particular features 

 of interest, but none possess so many elements 

 of attraction and interest as the rose. Beauty 

 and fragrance are here conspicuously wedded 

 together. Not only has Nature made the rose 

 tlio type of one of the largest Orders of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom; but, in some form, she 

 has difi'used it over almost every portion of the 

 globe. Over two hundred distinct species are 

 enumerated by botanists, and the varieties that 

 have been produced by cultivation and horti- 

 cultural skill are almost numberless. 



Although the rose is in all nations a public 

 favorite, it is not so because it has ever been 

 made to serve the primary wants of man for 

 food or clothing. But as an agent in the ele- 

 gancies and refiiicmeuts of life, where has it an 

 equal? Attar of roses, consei'vc of roses, vinegar 

 of roses, honey of roses, and rose water, are 

 various preparations known to commerce as so 

 many embodiments of the delicious perfume of 

 tl)is universal favorite. 



The North American species of this genus are 

 few, perhaps not exceeding a dozen, and not 

 more than half of these east of the Mississippi 

 river. The Prairie Rose {Rasa setigera, Michx.), 

 which grows wild in nearly all the Western and 

 Southern States, is a vigorous grower and pro- 

 lific bloomer, and by cultivation has given rise 

 to several double-flowered and highly prized 

 varieties. It is our only repicsentative of the 

 section with united and protruding styles. The 

 Swamp Rose (Rosa Carolina, L.) is a large 

 shrub growing in swampy ground, or on low, 

 wet margins of streams. It produces an abun- 

 dance of large and showy flowers. Two other 

 common indigenous species of wild rose, the 

 Rosa blanda, Ait., and Rosa lucida, Erhr., are 

 snuill shrubs of similar habit, and in some of 

 their forms approach so near each other as to 

 make it doubtful if they should not be reduced 

 to a single species. 



But the wild, or natural, state of the rose is 

 not that condition which is most commonly ad- 

 mired. The double condition of the rose is what 

 gives it value with the horticulturist, although, 

 in the eye of the botanist, that is regarded as an 

 abnormal condition. If we examine a wild rose, 

 we shall see that it has but five petals, while its 

 stamens are very numerous, often fifty or more. 

 These stamens arise from the same part of the 

 flower as the petals, /. e., from the calyx. Now, 



if we examine a double rose, we shall find that 

 its petals have multiplied wonderfully, while 

 the number of stamens has been greatly reduced, 

 indeed in some instances there are hardly any 

 discernible. How, then, has this change been 

 cftected? In answering this question we must 

 refer to the fact that all the parts of a flower are 

 but modifications of the leaves. The beautiful 

 petals are but delicate colored leaves, and the 

 stamens arc but contracted leaves, altered to 

 adapt them to a particular ])urpose. If we com- 

 pare a fully expanded petal with a stamen, we 

 notice a great difference, both in shape and size, 

 but by examining a double rose we shall find 

 some stamens just a little enlarged, others a 

 little more expanded, so as to present some re- 

 semblance to a leaf or petal, and so on through 

 all the stages of transition to perfect petals. 

 Hence we find that, under the stimulus of culti- 

 vation, the stamens take on the leafy develop- 

 ment, instead of contracting to their normal 

 form. Occasionally we find roses which unfold 

 to us still more clearly the structure of the floral 

 organs, by a reversion of the pistils to the leafy 

 state, so that the appearance is presented of one 

 rose growing up tlirough another. 



The subject of vegetable transformations is 

 one possessing intense interest, and one whicli 

 we shall have occasion to refer to again. 



DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE VEGETADLE DEVEhOl'- 

 MENT. 



Plants inhabiting temperate and northern 

 latitudes in which the seasons do not admit of 

 indefinite growth, complete their growth and 

 mature their seeds in longer or shorter periods 

 of time as their situation in respect to length of 

 period of growth may require. This is espe- 

 cially true of those species that perform their 

 functions in a single process, as Maize in culti- 

 vated plants, and the Oaks of the indigenous. 

 This definite or indefinite character of species 

 in development and growth enables the cultiva- 

 tor to determine approximately the latitudes of 

 their natural habitats, and to give them that 

 special treatment they require to obtain the best 

 results. Species with a definite growth, as Maize, 

 suffer from loss of time by neglect of the culti- 

 vator, or by the unfavorable conditions of season 

 or situation, but species of indeflnite growth, 

 as Cotton, the Castor-bean, and plants of the 

 Squash family (Ciicurbitac(e), can be subjected 

 to loss of time with comparatively little detri- 

 ment, except from loss for want of time at the 

 end of the season. Cultivators having these 

 facts in view can more satisfoctorily determine 



