THE ROSE. 
265 
I 
obtained out of their season, they were eagerly sought after, and as we learn from Martial 
bore a high price : — 
a The rare delights : we find first apples nice, 
And winter Roses bear a tenfold price.” — Elphinston. 
Pliny says that a small trench should be dug round the Rose trees, and that when the 
flower bud begins to sprout, then they should be watered with, warm water. Palladius 
gives a very similar direction, adding however that the plant should be watered as above 
mentioned twice daily. 
The following account of the cultivation of Rose trees is given by Didymus in the 
Geoponics : — If you wish, says he, to have a constant succession of Roses, plant fresh 
ones, and manure them every month. Roses, however, are planted in various ways ; some 
transplant them with the root entire ; others take them up with the root, and cut them 
down to the size of four fingers in length, and plant all that is cut off from the roots, and 
what grows from the trees at the distance of a foot and a half from each other. Some 
weave wreaths of Rose plants, and plant them for the sake of their fragrance ; but we 
ought to recollect that Roses will have more fragrance when grown in dry places, in the 
same manner as lilies have. Roses appear early both in baskets and in pots, and require 
the same attention as gourds and cucumbers. If you wish those Rose trees which are 
already planted to bear flowers early, a trench two palms in breadth from the plant must 
be dug round it, and warm water poured into it twice a day. Democritus says that if a 
Rose is thus watered twice every day in the middle of summer, it will bear flowers in the 
month of January. Florentinus remarks that a Rose may be grafted or budded into an 
apple tree, and that Rose blossoms will appear at the same period that apples do. If from 
a few plants more are required to be obtained, take cuttings of them four fingers or more 
in length, and set them in the ground. When they are a year old, they may be trans- 
planted at the distance of a foot from one another, and they must be carefully dug around, 
and all rubbish must be removed from about them. 
The Rosaries of Paestum, to which we have above alluded, were probably, as has been 
noticed, of great extent, and it is interesting to know that the custom of rearing large 
plantations of Rose trees still exists in the East and in Persia, as appears from the 
following extract from Van Halen’s account of his journey in that country : — “ On the 
following morning,” says this traveller, “ we left our place of bivouack, in the vicinity of 
Kuba, with the rising sun, and proceeded through picturesque fields covered with Rose 
trees. The exquisite fragrance emitted by them, and which the morning dew rendered 
more fresh and grateful ; the varied warbling of a multitude of birds, who had their nests 
in these delightful bowers ; and the sight of several cascades, whose playful waters leaped 
from their steep summits, produced on every sense an indescribable feeling of delight. 
One of the nobles belonging to the suite of Ashan-khan made me a present of a small 
flagon of oil extracted from these Roses ; and which, when some months after I compared 
with the best Otto of Roses of Turkey, surpassed it in fragrance and delicacy. Beyond 
these woods of Roses spreads an extensive forest.” 
The celebrated plain of Roses, from the produce of which the well-known perfume 
above mentioned is obtained, is about three miles distant from the city of Damascus, and 
its entire area is thickly planted with Rose trees in the culture of which great care is 
taken. 
We shall in the next place enumerate the localities which were celebrated for pro- 
ducing Roses. 
VOL. I. — NO. IX. 
M M 
