296 



ON THE CULTURE OF HOSES. 



few olive trees and some oaks, and these look as if scathed with 

 the lightning ; the eye, saddened with the sterility of the soil, 

 needed some relief, and he turned from this scene of rocks piled 

 one upon another to look back at that beautiful plain of Sharon 

 and the sea which bounds it." We may now see the force of 

 the phrase in the inspired song, " I am the rose of Sharon for 

 if Sharon be thus lovely in ruin and under oppression, and after 

 earthquakes, plagues, and plunderings, surely its rosy morn and 

 its palmy day must have been glorious. 



The Romans are said to have rioted among roses, and through- 

 out Christendom the rose has constantly been cultivated around 

 the dwellings of both rich and poor. 



We read glowing descriptions of " Syria, land of roses," yet 

 we find, from the clearest evidence, that England boasts many a 

 splendid rose, unknown and unsurpassed in Syria. The mate- 

 rials are in our own hands, and therefore there is no reasonable 

 cause to hinder us from realizing fields of roses, ay, and trees of 

 roses large as our wishes. I need not say that this cannot be 

 accomplished if we are to confine our ideas of a rose-tree to the 

 tuft of tiny rose-twigs on a dog-rose stem tied to an iron poker 

 or a square stick, whose outline (especially in winter) resembles 

 that of a besom, with the handle in the earth and the brush-part 

 in the air. 



• Let no one imagine that I wish to speak slightingly of the 

 ordinary culture of roses. I only wish to push the subject far 

 beyond its present limits, to carry roses into fresh pastures, and 

 unite them to living stakes or props, as " vines are wedded to 

 their elms " in Portugal and Spain. 



The ivy, standing in its own strength, is but a sorry shrub, 

 and when unassisted with props, or unattended with culture, it 

 only creeps and clambers, a lowly, uninteresting evergreen, 

 forming a monotonous mass of dense and dingy foliage, draining 

 the earth of moisture and nourishment, and thereby starving out- 

 right every vegetable in its vicinity which it had failed to choke 

 with its fleece of leaves ; yet we find the ivy, as at Wrotham 

 Park, for example, standing on the lawn supported by its own 

 stem, and forming a fine globular head. There are ivy trees 

 here 30 feet high, with a conical outline like that of the Arbor 

 vitse. These examples may show how the outlines and habits of 

 plants may be altered by subjecting them to a particular mode 

 of treatment in the training and propping. The honeysuckle, 

 unassisted, is little to be admired in its squat and shapeless mass ; 

 yet every one will bear witness to its charms when seen in bloom 

 entwined on tree or bower. A mountain-ash in the grounds 

 here has held up to admiration a plant of the honeysuckle high 

 and wide for many years. A tall spruce fir propped for a long 



