8 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHA.F. 



should be mentioned that the Rose of Jericho is generally 

 understood to be a cruciferous plant, and all seem agreed 

 that whatever the Rose of Sharon was it was certainly 

 not a Rose ; nevertheless Dr. Hooker enumerates seven 

 species of Roses which he observed in Syria. A passage 

 in the Apocrypha (Wisdom II., 8) is interesting as 

 mentioning the custom of crowning with Rosebuds at 

 feasts and banquets, which we know to have prevailed 

 in classic times. 



By far the most important ancient quotation is from 

 Sappho the Greek poetess, who was born about 600 B.C. 

 A translation of a fragment of one of her poems is given 

 in Mr. William Paul's book :— 



" Would Jove appoint some flower to reign 

 In matchless beauty on the plain, 

 The Rose (mankind will all agree), 

 The Rose the Queen of Flowers should be." 



That the title of " The Queen of Flowers " is no 

 modern assumption for the Rose, but has hardly been 

 seriously questioned for nearly twenty-five centuries, is 

 a little item of knowledge which every Rosarian should 

 store by him as a weapon defence in time of need. 



The immense sums spent by Cleopatra, Nero, and 

 other luxurious persons in the time of the Romans, not 

 only on Roses but on " Rose leaves " (petals) for strewing 

 on the floor and the seats, is well known. And there 

 are actually some points of culture that we may learn 

 from the Romans. Horace speaks of growing Roses in 

 beds, and Pliny of digging deeply for their cultivation, 

 both of which items — growing them by themselves 

 apart from other plants, and moving the soil to the 

 depth of two feet — have still to be insisted on in this 

 year of grace 1894. 



During the long strange sleep of civilisation which 



