JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



FIRST PERIOD. 



During the first period, that is from the middle of the sixteenth 

 to the middle of the eighteenth century, it will be found that in 

 comparison with the subsequent periods the literature of the Rose is 

 scanty, and such works as appeared have now become principally of 

 antiquarian and historical interest ; but notwithstanding this I think 

 it will be quite worth while to glance at the more important of 

 them. Gerarde's Herbal (1597 and 1633), Sweert's Florilegium 

 (1612), the Hortus Floridus of Passaeus (1614), and Parkinson's 

 Paradisi in Sole and Theatrum Botanicum all contain references to 

 the Rose, with figures of many species and varieties that were in 

 cultivation at those periods ; but the finest illustrations of these old- 

 time Roses are those of the Hortus Eystettensis (1613), in which brilliant 

 impressions are given of twenty-one kinds. A really remarkable work 

 also which appeared during the first half of the seventeenth century is 

 Rosenberg's Rhodologia, the first and second editions of which are 

 dated respectively 1620 and 1628, whilst the corrected and improved 

 third edition of 400 closely printed pages, with a portrait of the author, 

 is dated 1631. It is written in Latin and is described on the title-page 

 as a philosophical-medical description of the Rose. The preface alludes 

 to the Rose as " Florum princeps " ; the first part of the book, consist- 

 ing of 140 pages, is termed " philological " and deals with references to 

 the Rose in the writings of sacred and profane authors from the earliest 

 times. The second part, of 250 pages, is devoted to an historical 

 account of the Rose and particulars concerning its medical properties 

 and economic uses. Chapter VI contains a list with descriptions of 

 the different kinds of Roses known to the author, some thirty-seven in 

 number, arranged in two divisions. The amount of research and labour 

 involved in the production of the Rhodologia must have been enormous 

 and such as to entitle the author to the respect and gratitude of every- 

 one interested in the philology and historical literature of the Rose. 

 A tribute to its value will be found in the introduction to Redoute's 

 great work on the Rose. 



The Hisloria Plantarum of John Bauhin, assisted by Cherler and 

 Chabrey, published in 1651, contains in the second volume a long 

 and interesting chapter on Roses, with figures of many of the kinds 

 described ; and in 1681 a small and curious volume entitled Cynos- 

 batologia appeared at Jena : it was written by a Dr. Hagendorn 

 and deals with the many uses of the Dog-Rose in medicine and 

 domestic economy. From this we learn that all the parts of the plant 

 and flower were laid under contribution, and directions are given for 

 preparing a medical liquor and spirit from even the larvae of the 

 gall-fly which produces and inhabits the mossy growths known as 

 " bedeguars " which are often found on the shoots of the Dog-Rose. Of 

 English authors of the same period, Rea, in his Flora (2nd edition, 1676) , 

 devotes his fourth chapter to the Roses growing in English gardens 

 in'his time. Thirty species or varieties are described, the chapter 



