GENERAL CULTUEE OF THE ROSE. 



71 



ed Italj with the express object of finding this twice- 

 bearing Rose in Paestum or its environs, yet, notwith- 

 standing their carefully prosecuted researches, they could 

 find no traces of it whatever. 



Although the number of varieties known to the Ro- 

 mans was very limited, they had discovered a method of 

 making the blooming season continue many months. Ac- 

 cording to Pliny, the roses of Carthage, in Spain, came 

 forward early and bloomed in winter ; those of Campania 

 bloomed next in order ; then those of Malta ; and lastly 

 those of Paestum, which flowered in the spring and au- 

 tumn. It was probably the blooming of this last species 

 which the gardeners of Rome discovered (in Seneca's 

 time) the secret of retarding by a certain process, or of 

 hastening by means of their warm green-houses. 



In the first part of this w^ork, we have cited many pas- 

 sages from ancient authors, which show to what an enor- 

 mous extent the use of roses was carried by the Romans 

 on certain occasions. It is difficult to credit, at this day, 

 the relation of Nero's extravagance (which is, however, 

 attested by Suetonius), when it is told that in one fete 

 alone he expended in roses only^ more than four millions 

 of sesterces, or one hundred thousand dollars. It would 

 be no easy matter, even at the present period of abund- 

 ant cultivation of Roses, to obtain from all the nurseries 

 of England, France, and America together, roses sufficient 

 to amount to so large a sum. 



The Romans derived the use of this flower from the 

 |Greeks. In Greece, and throughout the East, roses were 

 cultivated, not only for the various purposes we have 

 mentioned, but also for the extraction of their j^erfumes. 

 Among the many plans Avhich they adopted for preserv- 

 ing the flower was that of cutting off the top of a reed, 

 splitting it down a short distance, and enclosing in it a 

 number of rose-buds, which, being bound around with 

 papyrus, prevented their fragrance from escaping. The 



