chap, ii HISTORY AND CLASSIFICATION 



7 



the exception, perhaps, of Australia, a large portion of 

 South America, and the actual tropics. 



It is very extensively cultivated in Persia and 

 Bulgaria for the manufacture of attar or otto of Roses 

 and Rose-water, which are distilled from the petals. 

 In Persia a variety of the Musk Rose (Rosa moschata) 

 is used for this purpose, but it has not the real odour 

 of musk, which is said to be found only in Salet, a Per- 

 petual Moss Rose. In Bulgaria, the country which is 

 the largest producer of the otto, a variety of the 

 Damask Rose (R. damascena) is used : and experts 

 allege that the Damask and Provence (R. centifolia) 

 Roses are the best representatives of the true inimit- 

 able odour of Rose. The modes of distillation in these 

 Eastern countries are very primitive and imperfect, 

 and moreover in Bulgaria there has been considerable 

 adulteration of the valuable otto with geraniol or oil 

 of pelargonium. Much the best otto of Roses now 

 in the market is manufactured by modern skilled 

 appliances in Germany, near Leipzig, where the Bul- 

 garian variety of Damask Rose is used, and in France, 

 near Grasse, where a . strain of the Provence Rose is 

 cultivated for the purpose. Rose-water and otto of 

 Roses are also made in India, Turkey, and other 

 places. 



Few readers of a Rose-book will care for much 

 research into the history of the Rose. Mr. William 

 Paul has with much care gone deeply into that subject 

 in his large volume The Rose Garden, and I will only 

 touch a few points, and refer inquirers on this subject 

 to his fuller work. 



Homer's allusions to the Rose in the Iliad and the 

 Odyssey are, I supj^ose, the earliest mentions we have. 

 Every one will be aware of Bible references, though it 



