GENERAL CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 



75 



ture in general, in which that of the Rose was mentioned, 

 with some important particulars. It stated that the 

 Moors, who formerly conquered Spain, attached the high- 

 est value to this most beautiful of their flowers, and culti- 

 vated it with as much care as we do ourselves. " Accord- 

 ing to Abu-el-Jair," says the translation, there are roses 

 of many colors — carnation white, fallow or yellow, 

 lapis-lazuli, or sky-blue. Some are of this last color on 

 the outside, and yellow within. In the East they are ac- 

 quainted with roses which are variegated with yellow and 

 sky-blue, the inside of the corolla being of the one color, 

 and the outside the other. The yellow-heart is very com- 

 mon in Tripoli and Syria, and the blue-heart is found on 

 the coast of Alexandria." To us, at the present day, this 

 relation may with reason seem incredible, since amid the 

 numerous varieties now existing, and the skill of their 

 cultivators, we have in no instance been able to obtain a 

 blue Rose. Abu-el-Jair may have ventured to state it as 

 a fact without proj)er authority, for, according to M. de 

 la Neuville, Abu-Abd^Uah-ebu-el-Fazel, another nearly 

 contemporaneous author, enumerated a variety of roses 

 without mentioning the blue. " There are," says this last 

 author, " four varieties of roses: the first is named the 

 Double White ; it has an exquisite odor, and its cup 

 unites more than a hundred petals : the second is the Yel- 

 low, which is of a golden color, and bright as the jonquil ; 

 then the PurjDle ; and lastly the flesh-colored, wiiich is the 

 most common of them all." Farther on the same author 

 adds: "The number of species is supposed to be large : 

 the Mountain or Wild ; the Double, which is variegated 

 Avith red and white shades ; and the Cliincse. The Double, 

 however, is the most beautiful, and is composed of forty 

 to fifty petals." 



The Moors multiplied roses by all the various methods 

 which are employed at this day: by suckers from the 

 root, by cuttings, by budding, and by grafting. The 



