HAARLEM. 179 



Being aware that Dutch nurserymen sometimes talk 

 of furnishing three hundred varieties of Hoses, we were 

 desirous of viewing these in the nursery lines. We found 

 the collection here to be very considerable ; and Mr Kreps 

 mentioned, that he had procured all the known sorts 

 cultivated in Holland, and many from England ; but he 

 candidly added, that he could not, in fairness, engage to 

 furnish more tlian about one hundred distinct varieties. 

 We may add, that, as far as we could learn, the new va- 

 rieties of native Scots roses, as well as of garden roses, raised 

 by Messrs Brown at Perth and Mr Austin at Glasgow, ex- 

 cel, in delicacy of appearance, all the more recent productions 

 of the florist in this department of the art, either at Haarlem 

 or in any other part of the Low Countries. These have 

 been procured by sowing seeds of semi-double varieties of 

 the little Scots rose (Rosa spinosissima), and seeds from the 

 heps which frequently follow multiplicate flowers of Rosa 

 alba, gallica and centifolia *. 



We may here remark, that we had, with some regret, 

 passed the village of Noordwyck, situate near the sand-hills 

 on our left, in the way from Leyden ; for this, we were 

 told, is the most celebrated spot in Holland for the cultiva- 

 tion of roses. But we now learned, that the rose-gardens 

 of Noordwyck are distinguished for their extent chiefly, 

 and not for the number of varieties of rose-tree cultivated. 

 The great object of the cultivators is the collecting of the 

 petals of the flowers, to be used in perfumery and in medi- 

 cine. A profuse bloom of roses is therefore much more 

 desirable to them than fine colours or regular shapes. In 

 point of fact, only three or four kinds are in general culti- 

 vation. These are chiefly varieties of two of the species 

 of rose-tree .above mentioned : One variety, which we call the 



* See Appendix, No. Ill, 



M 2 



