698 



HISTORY OP THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



and fruit arising from its centre from contact 

 with the water which miglit injure them. He 

 also remarlcs, that the stem never fails to ascend 

 in tlie water from whatever depth, unless in case 

 of a sudden inundation, until it attains the sur- 

 face, where its leaf expands, rests, and swims 

 upon it, and sometimes rises above it. This 

 plant bears the rigorous cold of the Pekin win- 

 ter, though it is reared with difficulty in Euro- 

 pean stoves. It often grows spontaneously in 

 China, and is propagated in the open air with 

 ease, both from seed, and by the root. The 

 Chinese have many varieties of it. It is said 

 that from the root of this plant the ancient 

 Egyptians prepared their colocasia, but the nel- 

 umbo is no longer found in that country, from 

 which some naturalists infer that it never was 

 indigenous there, but cultivated by the inhabi- 

 tants with extreme care. The ancient Romans 

 made repeated efforts to raise it among them 

 from seeds brought out of Egypt ; and the 

 modern attempts to cultivate it in Europe, 

 though with the assistance of artificial heat, sel- 

 dom have succeeded. In this country it is gene- 

 rally grown in large tubs, with a few inches 

 depth of water over the surface of the mould. 



CHAP. LIV. 



ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS, HEATHS, &C. 



The varieties of shrubs and small trees suited 

 as ornaments for the garden, either from the 

 beauty of the foliage, or the size and splendour 

 of the flowers, are nearly as numerous as those 

 of hei'baceous plants. We proceed to describe 

 some of the most remarkable of these. 



The Rose. We have already alluded to the 

 rose as a medicinal plant, (p. 630), and are now 

 to consider the several species and varieties, as 

 the most agreeable ornaments of the flower 

 garden. From the earliest times the rose has 

 been celebrated as the chief of flowers, and has 

 been familiar among all the civilized nations of 

 Europe and Asia. It is to be seen in all its 

 varieties, from the cottage garden up to the pre- 

 cincts of tlie palace. The name is derived from 

 the Latin word signifying red. There are various 

 species, although botanists are not agreed as to 

 tlielr number. Some have, however, supposed 

 all the European species to have originated from 

 one source, while others divide them into numer- 

 ous species and varieties. Lindley enumerates 

 not less than one hundred species and varieties; 

 and Miss Lawrence has published ninety plates 

 of roses, figured from natural specimens. Several 

 splendid works have also been published in 

 France and Italy descriptive of tliis genus. 

 Lists of from three to five hundred sorts are to 

 be found in some of these works; indeedj new 



varieties are raised both in France and Britain 

 every year. The usual colours are scarlet, pink, 

 variegated, white, purple, and yellow. 



The most common species are the Chinese, or 

 monthly rose, the cinnamon, the damask, the 

 evergreen, or Ayrshire rose, the blush, the 

 white, the moss, the dog rose, and the common 

 cabbage rose. The earliest flowering rose is the 

 monthly, which in mild seasons, and under the 

 shelter of a wall, will sometimes flower in the 

 beginning of April; the next is the cinnamon, 

 which flowers in May; the damask in the end 

 of May or first of June; the blush, York and 

 Lancaster, Provence and Dutch hundred-leaved, 

 in June, July, and August. The Virginia and 

 musk roses are the latest European sorts; they 

 flower in September, and in shaded situations, 

 will sometimes continue in bloom till the middle 

 of Octobe>r. But the earliest rose is also the 

 latest, and generally continues flowering till 

 interrupted by frost. 



The rose may be propagated by seed, by layers, 

 or cuttings, and by budding. Most of the spe- 

 cies, in their state of nature, are found growing 

 on a sandy, and rather poor soil, except those 

 which are natives of woods, where the soil ia 

 richer, and more moist. But for cultivated 

 roses, especially the double flowering kinds, a 

 rich loamy soil inclining to clay is the best. 

 They also require to be liberally supplied with 

 water. All the vai-ieties of the cultivated rose 

 are double or semi-double, that is, their organs 

 of fructification are converted into additional 

 petals, or the petals are otherwise greatly mul- 

 tiplied. The vicinity of large towns, where the 

 air is confined and vitiated, is very inimical to 

 the rose; indeed, no species will thrive in such 

 situations. . 



In raising from seed, the hips are to be gathered 

 in October or November, when they are ripe. 

 These may be preserved whole during the winter 

 in a dry situation; or the seeds may be rubbed 

 out immediately on gathering the hips. The 

 seeds require to remain one year in the soil before 

 they vegetate; so that if they are sown in Feb- 

 ruary or March, they will come up in the fol- 

 lowing spring. The seed should be put into a 

 soft moist soil, composed of equal parts of sand 

 and vegetable mould, in a shady situation, and 

 covered with about half an inch of soil. They 

 should afterwards recei ve aregular supply of water 

 till the plants have come up, and attained a few 

 inches in height. Early in the second spring 

 they may be transplanted in rows, a foot apart 

 every way; and a year afterwards, again trans- 

 planted to a greater distance asunder. Hence 

 they may remain till they flower, which varies 

 in different sorts from the third to the fifth 

 year; but most commonly during the fourth 

 summer. 



To increase the chance of new varieties, various 



