132 
JO  URN  AT.  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  9  ’  Of . 
Astrantias,  Irises,  Poppies,  prickly  yet  beautiful  Thistles,  whose  very 
look  carries  with  it  the  Scottish  motto ;  noble  Delphiniums,  with  many 
other  beauties  of  the  border.  Annuals,  too,  chief  among  them  being 
some  of  the  newest  of  the  Sweet  Peas,  give  their  appreciated  flowers, 
and  in  the  little  pools  the  Nymphaeas  shine  in  sunny  days  as  if  to  show 
us  that  the  Temple  of  Flora  is  to  be  found  on  more  elements  than  one. 
If  spring  is  “fair  handed,”  as  the  poet  tells  ns,  summer  is  “full 
handed.”  She  is  liberal,  too,  and  gives  with  no  stinting  hand  the  riches 
she  brings  into  our  gardens. — S.  Arnott. 
The  I(istory  of  tlie  Rose. 
{Concluded  from  page  34.) 
According  to  Nicander,  in  his  “  Georgies,”  beautiful  Roses  grew  at 
a  place  called  Themis,  or  Thetis  ;  and  at  Olenum,  a  city  of  Achaia,  not 
far  from  Patrae,  now  called  Patras.  Next  to  these  places,  Megara, 
Nisaea,  Phaselis,  and  Tenedos  were  celebrated  for  their  Roses  ;  but  the 
finest  grew  at  Magnesia  ad  Maeandrum,  a  city  of  Lydia,  now  called  by 
the  Turks  Gysel  Hisar,  or  the  Beautiful  Castle.  One  of  the  speakers 
in  “  Athenaeus  ”  is  made  to  say  that  what  is  related  by  .^thlius  Samius 
in  his  work  upon  the  singular  occurrences  which  take  place  at  Samos 
— namely,  that  in  that  island  Figs,  Grapes,  Apples,  and  Roses  are 
produced  twice  a  year,  appears  neither  improbable  nor  untrue.  Cyrene, 
also,  according  to  Pliny,  was  celebrated  for  its  Roses  ;  and,  according 
to  Herodotus  and  Martial,  Egypt  was  also  renowned  for  these  flowers. 
Herodotus  says  that  in  the  gardens  of  Midas  Roses  grew  spontaneously, 
and  that  some  h.  d  sixty  flower-leaves,  and  were  more  fragrant  than 
the  rest. 
According  to  the  Calendar  of  Natural  Occurrences  in  Greece,  the 
Rose  blossomed  in  March ;  the  Rosa  graeca,  or  Lychnis  coronaria,  iu 
May.  In  the  Roman  Calendar  we  find  early  Roses  were  in  blossom  in 
April,  and  that  in  May  they  were  generally  in  flower.  In  Egypt, 
according  to  Theophrastus,  the  Rose  blossomed  two  months  before  it 
appeared  in  Italy,  and  continued  in  flower  for  almost  as  long  a  time 
in  the  former  country  after  it  had  ceased  blowing  in  Italy.  In  the 
latter  country  it  succeeded  the  blossoming  of  the  Violet  and  the  Lily. 
Among  the  ancients  the  Rose  was  employed  as  a  medicinal  remedy; 
at  their  festivals  and  sacred  ceremonies ;  and  as  an  article  of  luxury 
at  their  banquets.  Of  the  medicinal  uses  of  the  Rose  frequent  mention 
is  made  by  Oribasius,  Actuarius,  Marcellus,  Myriscus,  and  Celsus, 
together  with  many  ancient  writers  on  pharmacy.  The  accounts 
afforded  by  these  writers  are  not  sufficiently  interesting  to  claim 
particular  notice.  Iu  alluding  to  the  more  general  uses  of  the  Rose 
among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  employment  of  flowers  generally 
must  in  some  degree  be  referred  to ;  but  the  Rose  was  unquestionably 
the  most  esteemed  of  all  flowers. 
By  the  Greeks  and  Romans  flowers  were  frequently  employed. 
It  was  usual  for  them  to  adorn  the  temples,  altars,  and  statues  of  their 
gods  with  them.  (See  Euripides  :  Hippolytus,  Troades,  Helena,  &c.) 
Wreaths  of  flowers  were  also  worn  by  those  who  were  present  at,  or 
assisted  in,  the  celebration  of  sacred  rites  (Eurip.  Iphigenia  in  AuUde'), 
They  were  also  offered  to  those  divinities  to  whom  they  were  considered 
most  grateful.  It  was  a  Grecian  custom,  according  to  Atheuseus,  to 
decorate  the  doorposts  of  houses  where  a  maiden  about  to  become  a 
bride  resided.  The  dead  were  crowned  with  flowers.  It  is  still  a  custom 
m  the  Levant  to  strew  flowers  on  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  and  in  the 
hands  of  young  persons  to  place  a.  nosegay.  Sophccles  has 
represented  Electra  and  Orestes  as  repairing  to  their  father’s  tomb  to 
deck  it  with  garlands  and  honour  it  with  libations.  The  relatives  of 
the  deceased  wore  garlands  of  Roses  during  the  days  of  mourning,  as 
emblematical  of  the  shortness  of  life,  which  passes  as  quickly  away  as 
the  beauty  of  those  Roses  would  which  formed  the  mourner’s  crown. 
The  tombs  of  the  dead  were  decorated  with  Roses,  under  the  idea  that 
they  possessed  the  power  of  protecting  the  remains  of  the  deceased, 
and  were  peculiarly  acceptable  as  an  offering  to  their  manes.  Other 
flowers  besides  the  Rose  were  selected  as  having  a  special  fitness  for  these 
purposes.  The  Greeks  also  used  the  Amaranthus,  which  is  commonly 
regarded  as  the  flower  now  known  by  the  name  of  “  Everlasting.” 
Parsley  and  Myrtle  were  also  funereal  plants.  But  the  Rose  has  been 
for  ages  the  favourite  flower  for  funereal  and  all  other  purposes. 
Among  the  Romans  all  flowers  of  a  purple  or  white  colour  were 
regarded  as  grateful  to  the  dead.  They  were  so  fond  of  the  Rose,  that 
we  find  inscriptions  which  refer  to  legacies  left  in  their  wills  for  the 
express  purpose  of  providing  Roses,  with  which  their  tombs  were 
annually  to  be  decorated. 
....  Donavit  sub  hae  conditione, 
TJt  quotannis  Rosas  ad  monumentum  ejus  deferant. 
(He  bequeathed  it  on  this  condition,  that  annually  Roses  should  be 
brought  to  his  b  rnb. 
(See  Le  Antichitd  JAquileja,  Giandomenico  Bertoli :  Venezia, 
1739 :  p.  xix.  ccxxxvii.,  &c.) 
Roses  were  also  strewed  on  the  tables  at  their  convivial  entertain¬ 
ments,  and  on  the  floors  rf  the  rooms  in  which  they  feasted. 
Pacatius  says  : — “Delicati  illi  et  fluentes  parum  se  lautos  putabant,  nisi 
luxuria  vertisset  annum,  nisi  hyherna  poculis  Rosce  innatassent.” 
(“  The  soft  and  luxurious  thought  themselves  not  sufficiently  refined 
unless  their  extravagance  changed  the  course  of  the  seasons,  unless 
winter  Roses  floated  in  their  cups.”)  Suetonius  relates  of  Nero,  that 
he  spent  upwards  of  £30,000  at  one  supper  in  the  purchase  of  Roses. 
This  custom  is  supposed  to  have  been  introduced  during  the  time  of 
Horace;  an  opinion  which  has  been  formed  from  one  of  his  odes 
(lib.  i.  od.  xxxviii.),  thus  translated  by  Francis: — 
“  I  tell  thee,  boy,  that  I  detest 
The  grandeur  of  a  Persian  feast ; 
Nor  for  me  the  Linden’s  rind 
Shall  the  flowery  chaplet  bind  ; 
Then  search  not  where  the  curious  Rose 
Beyond  his  season  loitering  grows.” 
Cleopatra  is  said  to  have  expended  a  talent  in  the  purchase  of  Roses 
for  one  banquet,  on  which  occasion  the  floor  of  the  apartment  was 
covered  with  Roses  to  the  depth  of  a  cubit,  or  foot. — (^Athenoeus, 
Deipnosoph.  lib.  iv.,  cap.  ii.) 
The  chief  use  of  the  Rose  at  feasts  was  to  form  crowns  and  garlands, 
which  were  placed  upon  the  heads  and  around  the  necks  of  the  guests. 
The  garlands  were  generally  provided  by  the  master  of  the  house. 
Those  who  attended  on  the  guests  were  also  crowned,  and  even  the 
drinking-bowls  were  wieathed  with  flowers.  Owing  to  this  use  of  the 
Rose,  we  learn  from  Anacreon  that  a  crown  composed  of  them  was 
regarded  as  an  invitation  to  festivity;  they  were  also  considered  as 
preventives  of  drunkenness;  though  certainly,  in  some  instances, 
the  flowery  wreath  seems  to  have  been  a  well-understood  mark  of 
inebriation. 
“  Capiam  mihi  coronam  in  caput,  assimulabo  me  esse  ebrium.” 
Plautus,  Amphitryon,  act  iii.,  sc.  4. 
“I  will  place  a  chaplet  on  my  head,  and  pretend  to  be  drunk.” 
Rich  unguents  and  oils  were  also  prepared  from  the  Rose  (see 
Homer,  II.  xxiii.,  186),  which  were  used  on  the  same  occasions  as  the 
Rose  flower  itself. 
Many  are  the  customs  and  superstitions  connected  with  the  Rose 
in  our  rural  districts.  On  midsummer  eve  many  a  maiden  gathers  a 
Moss  Rose. 
“  She  bids  it  for  her  lover’s  sake 
Await  the  new-year’s  frolic  wake — 
When  faded,  in  its  alter’d  hue 
She  reads — ‘Then  Robin  is  untrue.’ 
But  if  it  keeps  its  crimson  paint 
Her  sick’ning  hopes  no  longer  faint.” 
Newton,  in  his  “  Her  ball  to  the  Bible,”  1^87,  pp.  223-4,  says 
“  I  will  heere  adde  a  common  country  cu^tome  that  is  used  to  be  done 
with  the  Rose.  When  pleasaunt  and  merry  companions  doe  friendly 
meete  together  to  make  goode  cheere,  as  soone  as  their  feast  or  banket 
is  ended,  they  sive  faithfull  promise  mutually  one  to  another,  that 
whatsoever  hath  been  merrily  spoken  by  any  in  that  assembly  should 
be  wrapped  up  in  silence,  and  not  to  be  carried  out  of  doores.  For  the 
assurance  and  performance  whereof,  the  tearme  which  they  use  is,  that 
all  things  there  saide  must  be  taken  as  spoken  under  the  Rose. 
Whereupon  they  use  in  their  parlours  and  dining  monies  to  hang  Roses 
over  their  tables,  to  put  the  companie  iu  memorie  of  secresie,  and  not 
rashly  or  indiscreetly  to  clatter  and  blab  out  what  they  heare.  Likewise, 
if  they  chaunce  to  shew  any  tricks  of  wanton,  unshamefast,  immodest, 
or  irreverent  behaviour  either  by  word  or  deed,  they  protesting  that 
all  was  spoken  under  the  Rose,  do  give  a  strait  charge  and  pass 
a  covenant  of  silence  and  secrecy  with  the  heaiers,  that  the  same 
shall  not  be  blowne  abroad,  nor  tatled  iu  the  streetes  among  any 
others.”  t,-  u  i. 
There  are  many  other  less  remarkable  uses  of  the  Rose,  which  it 
would  be  necessary  to  mention  in  order  to  render  the  above  by  any 
means  a  complete  account  of  this  flower  ;  their  importance,  however, 
does  not  warrant  their  insertion  here.  To  the  philosophic  botanist  the 
above  account  of  the  Rose  will  not,  it  is  believed,  be  attractive;  to 
the  horticulturist  it  may  present  many  pleasing  features  ;  to  the 
classic  reader  it  will  recall  customs  most  intimately  blended  with  the 
beauties  of  Grecian  and  Roman  poetry.  The  feeling,  too,  which 
dictated  some  of  the  most  striking  and  touching  uses  of  the  Rose 
especially,  and  of  flowers  in  general,  is  universal  an  1  natural  to  nearly 
all  nations.  The  decoration  of  the  tombs  of  the  dead  with  flowers 
was  an  inexpressibly  beautiful  custom  ;  and,  though  strenuously 
denounced  by  the  early  Christians  as  savouring  of  ido  atry,  the  hearts 
of  men  soon  wandered  back  to  so  simple,  so  elegant,  so  natural  a  mode 
of  testifying  affection.  This  is  a  custom  which  has  been  well  said  to 
be  “  of  the  heart,  and  to  speak  to  it  and  has  therefore  maintained  its 
ground  in  every  age  and  region,  unaffected  by  the  constant  changes  in 
customs  merely  arbitrary  and  conventional.’’ 
