THE LITERATURE OF THE ROSE. 



37 



In Mr. Pemberton's work the botany of the Rose and the wild 

 forms of this and other countries are attractively dealt with and form 

 an interesting commencement to a treatise of much practical value. 

 In Miss Kingsley's book the reader will be struck by the beauty and 

 truthfulness of the coloured illustrations. 



During the same period we have received from France J amain 

 and Forney's Les Roses, Roses et Rosters par des Hortiailteurs et des 

 Amateurs de Jardinage, and Hariot's Livre d'Or des Roses ; these are 

 all remarkable for their coloured illustrations of varying degrees of 

 excellence. The most important practical work however that has 

 come to us of late from France is the recent publication of the Rose 

 Section of the National Horticultural Society of France, entitled 

 Les plus belles Roses au debut du XX e Siecle. The concise, and 

 at the same time thorough, manner in which the Rose .is treated 

 under its various aspects is convincing proof of the ability and care- 

 fulness with which the book has been compiled, and if on looking 

 over some of the lists of varieties suggested for cultivation we may 

 find names that do not appear to us to be of special excellence we must 

 remember that the climate of France is of many kinds and differs 

 widely from our own, and also that the canons of taste in Roses are 

 not the same in all countries. I cannot leave the French section of 

 our subject without reference to the publications of the Roseraie de 

 l'Hay, near Paris, where M. Gravereaux has established a magnificent 

 rose-garden with its equipments of library, laboratory, and museum 

 on a scale that has never hitherto been attempted. In addition to 

 richly illustrated catalogues of the botanical and horticultural contents 

 of his collection of Roses, M. Gravereaux has published treatises 

 dealing with the evolution of the Rose from prehistoric times, its 

 place in the sciences, in literature and in the arts ; and last year he has 

 given us a very entertaining description of the reconstitution of the 

 rosery of the Empress Josephine at Malmaison, which he took in hand 

 some two years since. 



The periodical literature of the Rose has also made great strides 

 of late years. Although in this country we have not as yet any maga- 

 zine or journal appearing at stated intervals and devoted entirely to 

 the Rose, as is the case on the Continent, we have the publications 

 of the National Rose Society as well as the numerous well-illustrated 

 articles on the subject that are continually appearing in the horti- 

 cultural papers, and which serve most effectually to keep alive the 

 interest in the Rose both at home and wherever the English tongue is 

 spoken ; they deserve our acknowledgments for what has been accom- 

 plished in the past, with our sincere hopes for their continued ex- 

 pansion. In France I am delighted to see the name of Cochet still 

 associated with the conduct of the Journal des Roses, a monthly 

 magazine founded no less than thirty-seven years ago by a member 

 of the same family, and readers of the Lyon-Horticole, the journal of 

 the Lyons Horticultural Society, still enjoy the practical articles on 

 the Rose and its culture which have appeared at frequent intervals 



