ROSES-THEIR NUMBER AND VARIETY. 
99 
a heaviness over the mind. This is especially the case with bulbous- 
rooted flowers, such as hyacinths and lilies, which contain a small 
portion of prussic acid, and a much larger portion of diluted car¬ 
bonic, which soon brings the perfume to the ground. The odour 
of the Rose, on the other hand, is all-exhilarating, floats light and 
buoyant on the breeze ; and, besides being the most delightful to 
the sense, it gives tone and elasticity to the mind. 
We must, however, defer our general description until the Roses 
are in bloom, and we see them on their parent-stems in all the 
fulness and freshness of their beauty ; for which object we purpose 
to make the splendid collection of Mr. Rivers the scene of our 
grand entertainment of “ Love of the Roses among themselves 
and we shall look to that first-rate cultivator for some particulars 
of his mode of cultivation, besides what are contained in his “ Rose 
Amateur’s Guide.” Roses, as we have said, have been admired 
anterior to the epoch of recorded memory ; and to say that a man 
loves Roses is to pay a very high compliment to his feelings. 
In most instances the odour of a flower dies along with it, and 
the decaying petals are offensive to the nostril; but not so the 
Rose ; we find it yielding a variety of fragrant liquors which do 
not require the corrosive ingredients which are in many of the 
compound essences of the shops ; and attar of Roses, especially 
when prepared in the valley of the Ganges, where square miles 
are devoted to the growth of this flower, is now almost the only 
substance which, weight for weight, is more valuable than gold. 
Roses are natives of a great number of climates ; and we have 
them in Europe, Asia, Africa (?), and America, though in the two 
last they are comparatively few. We are not aware that any true 
Rose has been found in the wild state in Australia, Southern 
Africa, or any other part of the southern hemisphere. They are 
plants of the temperate parts of the north ; and except in a few 
particular longitudes, they are more polar than tropical in the 
greater number of their species. Whatever part of the world they 
are natives of, there are comparatively few of them that are not 
hardy plants, capable of bearing the rigours of all ordinary seasons 
in the open air. Not above a dozen of species require a frame or 
other shelter; and those are all from China; and probably the 
greater number of them are hybrids. The ordinary Roses, 
which are either natives of this country or have been long habi¬ 
tuated, are very hardy shrubs, and will grow in most situations 
