74 



PAP.SOXS OX THE EOSE. 



and wliicli produced in Egypt and Rome flowers at all 

 seasons, as the Damask does now with us, under a proper 

 mode of culture. 



The extent to wliich the culture and commerce of roses 

 was carried among the Romans is shown by the fact 

 that, although they had confounded the tree and its flow- 

 ers under one name — that of Hosa^ — they nevertheless 

 gave particular appellations to the gardens or ground 

 planted with rose-bushes. They were termed a Rosarium^ 

 or a Bosetum, Ovid says, Quot amcena Rosarla floresp 

 The dealer in roses was also designated by the distinctive 

 appellation of Mosarius, 



In the latter part of the dechne of the Roman Empire, 

 when paganism still existed to a great degree, there arose 

 a people who formed, as it were, the connecting link be- 

 tween the ancient and modern world — a people who ac- 

 knowledged but one Supreme Ruler, and his sole vicege- 

 rent. Mahomet ; a people whose origin was among the 

 wildest tribes of Ishmael's descendants, who possessed in 

 a great degree the luxuries of civilized life, and among 

 whom the arts, sciences, and agrictilture, were very flour- 

 ishing for many ages. Among the 3Ioors of Spain, the 

 culture of the Rose was pursued vv'ith as much scientific 

 and practical method as at the 2:)resent day, but with 

 somewhat less happy resrdts. When in Paris, some years 

 since, we became acqtiainted with Hardy, the chief di- 

 rector of the Luxembourg gardens, and who is well 

 known to rose growers, by the many beatitiftil varieties 

 which he has originated. His interest in this subject was 

 very great, and in 1828, he published in the Journal des 

 Jard'ns some interesting observations which he had ex- 

 tracted from a manuscript of 31. de la Xeuville. The 

 latter having been employed a> military superintendent 

 in Spain dtiring the war of lS,-23, translated from a 

 Spanisli version some parrs of an Arabian work tipon cul- 



