The attar is very costly, although not so dear as formerly. The French traveler, Tavernier, who visited Ispahan about the year 1666, stated that the price of attar at Chyraz rose and fell every year on account of the unequal produce of flowers; and that an ounce of that article sold, at one period, for ten tomans (about ninety-two dollars).
At the time another Frenchman, Chardin, traveled in Persia, some years after Tavernier, the attar was sometimes much higher. He states that forty pounds of rose-water were required to produce half a drachm of attar, an ounce of which sometimes sold in India for two hundred ecus. Langles states that in India half an ounce ofattar is worth about forty dollars. Bishop Heber also speaks of its enormous price at Ghazepoor, where the variation in price is also very great, being, according to Langles, sometimes as low as eight dollars an ounce.
At one time, soon after its discovery, it was valued at about five times its weight in gold. Until quite recently, it was worth its weight in gold, but now sells in Paris for about one quarter that value.
Attar is rarely found pure in commerce; it is always more or less adulterated. In the countries where it is manufactured, they frequently increase the quantity of the attar by mixing scrapings of sandal-wood with the rose-petals during the process of distillation Kæmpfer, a German writer, states this mode of adulteration to have been known a long time, and adds that the sandal-wood gives additional strength to the attar; but another author, who has also made some researches on the subject, asserts that the sandal-wood injures the delicacy of the attar, which is more sweet and agreeable when mild than when strong.
The quality as well as the quantity of attar which they obtain from roses depends upon the proportion of aroma which they contain; and this is found more developed at the South, and in a warm climate. The kinds of roses used in distillation have also a great influence on the quality of the attar. In Persia and the East, the Musk Rose is generally used, and the Damask is employed in France.
Although roses are distilled in large quantities at Paris for perfumery and for medical purposes, very little attar is made, because the proportion of the manufactured article to the roses required is, in that climate, extremely small; so small, in fact, that, according to one writer, five thousand parts in weight of rose-petals will scarcely produce one part of essential oil. This limited manufactureexists only at Grasse and Montpelier, in France, and at Florence, in Italy.
Some years since, the adulteration of attar was successfully practiced in the south of France by mixing with it the essence distilled from the leaves of the Rose Geranium (Pelargonium capitatum). This adulteration is very difficult to detect, because this last essence possesses the same properties as the attar; its odor is almost the same; like that, it is of a lemon color; it crystalizes at a lower temperature; and its density is very little greater.
The attar, when pure, is, beyond comparison, the most sweet and agreeable of all perfumes. Its fragrance is the most delicate conceivable, and equals that of the freshly expanded Rose. It is also so strong and penetrating, that a single drop, or as much as will attach itself to the point of a needle, is sufficient to perfume an apartment for several days; and if the small flask in which it is sold, although tightly corked and sealed, is placed in a drawer, it will perfume all the contents.
When in a congealed or crystalized state, the attar will liquefy at a slight heat; and if the flask is merely held in the hand, a few minutes will suffice to render it liquid. In the East much use is made of the attar, particularly in the harems. In Europe and America it is employed in the manufacture of cordials, and in the preparation of various kinds of perfumery.
Rose-water, or the liquid obtained from rose-petals by distillation, is very common, and is found in almost every country where the arts and luxuries of life have at all advanced.
Pliny tells us that rose-water was a favorite perfume of the Roman ladies, and the most luxurious used it even in their baths. This, however, must have been some preparation different from that now known as rose-water, and was probably a mere tincture of roses.
The ancients could have known nothing of rose-water,for they were entirely ignorant of the art of distillation, which only came into practice after the invention of the alembic by the Arabs. Some attribute this discovery to Rhazes, an Arabian physician, who lived in the early part of the tenth century; and others attribute it to Avicenna, who lived at Chyraz, in the latter part of the same century. It is also attributed to Geber, a celebrated Arabian alchemist, who lived in Mesopotamia in the eighth century. Subsequent, therefore, to this discovery of the alembic, we find, according to Gmelin, in his history of the preparation of distilled waters, that the first notice of rose-water is by Aben-Zohar, a Jewish physician, of Seville, in Spain, who recommends it for diseases of the eye. From the Arabs, this invention passed among the Greeks and Romans, as we are informed by Actuarius, a writer of the eleventh or twelfth century.
In France, the first distillation of rose-water appears to have been made by Arnaud de Villeneuve, a physician, who lived in the latter part of the thirteenth century.
The Orientals made great use of this water in various ways in their houses, and in the purification of their temples when they thought they had been profaned by any other worship than that of Mahomet. There are many anecdotes told by historians of the use of rose-water by the Sultans on various occasions; and several of these, as Chateaubriand remarks, are stories worthy of the East. It is related of Saladin, that when he took Jerusalem from the Crusaders, in 1187, he would not enter the Mosque of Omar, which had been converted into a church by the Christians, until the walls and courts had been thoroughly washed and purified with rose-water brought from Damascus. Five hundred camels, it is stated, were scarcely sufficient to convey all the rose-water used for this purpose. An Arabian writer tells us that the princes of the family of Saladin, hastening to Jerusalem to worship Aliah, Malek-Abdul, and his nephew, Taki-Eddin, distinguishedthemselves above all others. The latter repaired with all his followers to the “Chapel of the Holy Cross,†and taking a broom himself, he swept all the dirt from the floor, washed the walls and the ceiling several times with pure water, and then washed them with rose-water; having thus cleansed and purified the place, he distributed large alms to the poor.
Bibars, the fourth Sultan of the Mameluke dynasty, who reigned from 1260 to 1277, caused the Caaba of the temple of Mecca to be washed with rose-water.
Mahomet II., after the capture of Constantinople, in 1453, would not enter the Mosque of St. Sophia, which had been formerly used as a church, until he had caused it to be washed with rose-water.
It is stated by a French historian that the greatest display of gorgeous magnificence at that period was made in 1611, by the Sultan Ahmed I., at the dedication of the new Caaba, which had been built or repaired at his expense; amber and aloes were burnt in profusion, and, in the extravagance of Eastern language, oceans of rose-water were set afloat, for washing the courts and interior surface of the walls. Rose-water is by no means so generally used now as for a few hundred years subsequent to its invention. In France, during the reign of Philip Augustus, it was a necessary article at court. It was formerly the custom to carry large vases filled with rose-water to baptisms. Illustrating this custom, Bayle relates a story of Rousard, the French poet: “It nearly happened that the day of his birth was also that of his death; for when he was carried from the Chateau de La Poissoniére to the church of the place to be baptized, the nurse who carried him carelessly let him fall; his fall, however, was upon the grass and flowers, which received him softly; it so happened, that a young lady, who carried a vase filled with rose-water and a collection of flowers, in her haste to aid in helping the child, overturned on his head a largepart of the rose-water. This incident was considered a presage of the good odor with which France would one day be filled by the flowers of his learned writings.â€
At one time rose-water was largely consumed in the preparation of food and the seasoning of various dishes. In the “Private Life of the French,†it is mentioned that in the fourteenth century, the Comte d’Etampes gave a feast in which a large part of the dishes and even the chestnuts were prepared with rose-water. It is still used to flavor various dishes, but its principal use is in affections of the eyelids, or as a perfume for the toilet. The principal consumption of rose-water is, however, in the East, where the inhabitants are very fond of perfumes. In Persia a very large quantity is made annually for domestic use. They deem it an excellent beverage mixed with pure water.
The Corinth Grape, mixed with rose-water, and a slight infusion of spices, is the nectar so much in vogue among the Greeks of Morea. The Persians, according to Lebruyn, sprinkle with rose-water those who visit them. They also make it an important article of commerce; large quantities are sent to different parts of the East, and entire cargoes are sometimes shipped to India.
In Egypt, the nobles and wealthy inhabitants consume large quantities of rose-water; they scatter it over their divans and other places where they spend their time; they also offer it with confectionery to their visitors.
The custom of offering rose-water to a guest is alluded to by Shakespeare, who makes one of his characters in Padua say:
“What is it your honor will command?Let one attend him with a silver basonFull ofrose-water, and bestrewed with flowers.â€
“What is it your honor will command?Let one attend him with a silver basonFull ofrose-water, and bestrewed with flowers.â€
Almost all the rose-water used in Egypt is distilled in the province of Fayoum, from the pale rose. “About the middle of February, in Fayoum,†says a French writer,“they pluck the roses every morning before sunrise, while the dew is yet upon them; they then place them immediately in the alembic, not allowing them to become dry or heated by remaining too long a time without distillation. This lucrative branch of manufacture has not escaped the monopoly of Mehemet Ali. No private individual can now distil roses in Egypt, and those who cultivate them are obliged to sell the petals to government at a low price. The value of all the rose-water distilled in Fayoum, annually, is estimated at 50,000 or 60,000 francs.†Of the profusion with which rose-water is used in India, some idea may be formed from the narrative of Bishop Heber, who was shown, in the ruins of the palace of Ghazepoor, a deep trench round an octagonal platform of blue, red, and white mosaic pavement. This trench, he was told, was filled with rose-water when the Nawâb and his friends were feasting in the middle. “The ancient oil of roses,†according to Loudon, “is obtained by bruising fresh rose-petals, mixing them with four times their weight of olive oil, and leaving them in a sand-heat for two days. If the red Rose of Provence is used, the oil is said to imbibe no odor; but if the petals of pale roses are employed, it becomes perfumed. This preparation was celebrated among the ancients. Pliny says that, according to Homer, roses were macerated for their oil in the time of the Trojans. The oil is chiefly used for the hair, and is generally sold in perfumers’ shops, both in France and England, under the name ofL’huile antique de Rose.â€
Spirit of roses is made by distilling rose-petals with a small quantity of spirits of wine, and forms an agreeable article for external applications. The green leaves of the sweet-brier are sometimes, in France, steeped in spirits of wine to impart a fragrance; and in England they are frequently used to flavor cowslip wine.
As the petals of the rose preserve their fragrance for a long time after being dried, many are in the habit of making,annually, little bags filled with them. These, being placed in a drawer or wardrobe, impart an agreeable perfume to the linen or clothing with which they may come in contact. The petals can be obtained from almost any garden in sufficient quantity for this purpose, and can be dried by the process mentioned hereafter. The confectioners, distillers, and perfumers of France draw from the Rose a part of their perfumes, particularly fromR. Damascena, andR. centifolia, in fixing their sweet odors in sugar-plums, creams, ices, oils, pomatum, essences, and fragrant powders.
The petals of the Rose, after being freshly picked and bruised in a marble mortar, until they are reduced to a sort of paste, are employed in the preparation of different kinds of confectionery. Of this paste the French also make little perfume balls of the size of a pea. They are made round in the same manner as pills, and before becoming hard, they are pierced with a needle and strung on a piece of silk. In a little while they become hard like wood, assume a brownish color, and emit a delightful perfume. This rose scent continues very long, and one writer remarks that he has known a necklace made in this style, possess, at the end of twenty-five years, as strong a perfume as when first made.
In Great Britain, in the vicinity of the large cities, and in many private gardens, the flowers are gathered for making rose-water or for drying as perfumes. In Holland, the Dutchhundred-leavedand commoncabbage roseare grown extensively at Noordwich, between Leyden and Haarlem, and the dried leaves are sent to Amsterdam and Constantinople. In France, the Provence Rose is extensively cultivated near the town of Provence, about sixty miles south-east of Paris, and also at Fontenay aux Roses, near Paris, for the manufacture of rose-water, or for exportation in a dried state. The petals of the Provence Rose (Rosa Gallica) are the only ones that are said togain additional fragrance in drying; all the other varieties losing in this process more or less of their perfume. A French writer states, that apothecaries employ both pale and red roses; the pale give more perfume, while the red keep the longer.
Loudon states that “the petals of roses ought always to be gathered as soon as the flower is fully expanded; and the gathering should never be deferred until it has begun to fade, because, in the latter case, the petals are not only discolored, but weakened in their perfume and their medical properties. They should be immediately separated from the calyx, and the claws of the petals pinched off; they are then dried in the shade, if the weather is dry and warm, or by a stove in a room, if the season is humid, care being taken, in either case, not to spread them on the ground, but on a platform raised two or three feet above it. The drying should be conducted expeditiously, because it has been found that slowly dried petals do not exhale near so much odor as those which have been dried quickly, which is also the case with hay, sweet herbs, and odoriferous vegetables generally. After the petals are dried, they are freed from any sand, dust, or eggs of insects which may adhere to them, by shaking them and rubbing them gently in a fine sieve. After this, the petals are put into close vessels, from which the air is excluded, and which are kept in a dry, airy situation.
“As it is extremely difficult to free the rose-petals entirely from the eggs of insects, they are taken out of these vessels two or three times a year, placed in sieves, rubbed, cleaned, and replaced.â€
I have been careful to give the details of the above process, because it may be useful to those who embark extensively in the cultivation of roses for the exportation of petals in a dried state. We should suppose that rose-petals produced in this latitude, where the Rose has a long period of hibernation, would produce more perfume,and be more valuable in a dried state than those grown under the tropics. The Provence and Damask Rose are both known to succeed well here, and to produce abundant flowers. Their fragrance is unsurpassed, and our summer’s sun would be abundantly sufficient to dry the petals without any artificial heat. It is not too much to hope that the attention of our cultivators may yet be directed to this subject, and that the manufacture of rose-water and the preparation of dried petals may yet be an important branch of domestic industry, and form an important addition to the list of exported articles.
We have hitherto viewed the Rose as the chief ornament of our gardens, and if we have found it abounding with charms of fragrance and beauty, we shall now find it occupying a prominent place in Materia Medica. Some authors have, with a degree of exaggeration, endeavored to make its medical as brilliant as its floral reputation. Rosenberg, in his work on the Rose, makes it a specific in every disease, and even attributes to it supernatural virtues.
In the opinion of most medical men, the medicinal properties of the Rose are about the same in all the kinds, while some writers assert that theRosa Gallicais superior to all others in a greater or less degree. We will mention those principally used in medicine, and the properties which are especially attributed to each.
The most valuable properties of the Rose reside in itspetals, and in order to preserve these properties, it is highly essential that the petals should be quickly and perfectly dried. Those of the Provence Rose (Rosa Gallica) have an astringent and somewhat bitter taste, and are tonic and astringent in their effects.
According to an analysis recently made in France, they contain, besides vegetable matter and essential oil, a portion of gallic acid, coloring matter, albumen, tannin, some salts, with a base of potash or of chalk, silex, and oxide of iron. A small dose in powder strengthens the stomach and assists digestion. Their prolonged use will sometimes cause a slight constipation of the bowels, while in a much stronger dose they act as purgatives.
Theconserveof the Provence Rose has much reputation in France for the treatment of all chronic affections of the bowels, caused by weakness and inactivity of the digestive organs; it is also employed in colic, in diarrhœa, in cases of hemorrhage and leucorrhœa.
The conserve of any variety of roses is considered excellent in cases of cold or catarrh. It is prepared by bruising in a mortar the petals with their weight in sugar, and moistening them with a little rose-water, until the whole forms a homogeneous mass. Some receipts prescribe powdered petals mixed with an equal part of sugar; others direct to use two layers of sugar, and only one layer of pulverized petals.
Opoix, a physician of Provence, states that the true Rose of Provence has a more sweet and penetrating fragrance than the same rose grown elsewhere, and even goes so far as to say that it has acquired properties which it does not possess in its native country, the Caucasus. On account of the supposed superior qualities of this rose, the citizens of Provence, in 1807, addressed a petition to government to encourage in their territory the cultivation of the true Provence Rose, by giving it the preference in all the hospitals and military dispensaries. This gave rise to adiscussion between two French chemists, but without deciding the fact whether theRosa Gallicawas superior in medical properties to any other rose. It seems to be acknowledged that those cultivated at Provence were superior to the same kind grown elsewhere, and this superiority is attributed by some to the presence of iron in the soil about that city. It was probably owing, also, to the very careful cultivation practiced there. The petals are used extensively in several medical preparations, as the sugar of roses, the ointment of roses, the treacle of roses, etc. Rose-water is, however, more extensively used in medicine than any other preparation of the rose. This water, when manufactured fromRosa Gallica, or any other of the section ofCentifoliæ, is employed internally as an astringent, and is sometimes mixed with other medicines to destroy their disagreeable smell and taste. In external applications, it is used principally for affections of the eyes, either alone or with some ointment.
Thealcoholic tincture of roses, or spirit of roses, before mentioned, which was formerly given as a stimulus in many cases, has now fallen very much into disuse, medical opinion being very much against the employment of any alcoholic medicines excepting in very rare cases.
Thesyrup of roses, manufactured from the pale or Damask Rose, is sometimes employed as a purgative, and was once highly esteemed and recommended as a mild laxative. It is now, however, scarcely considered purgative, and its laxative properties are probably owing in a great measure to the senna and other articles which enter into its preparation.
Theelectuary of roses, which is now no longer used, was also probably indebted for its medical qualities to the addition of scammony, a very strong purgative.
Vinegar of rosesis made by simply infusing dried rose-petals in the best distilled vinegar, to which they communicate their perfume. It is used for cooking andfor the toilet, and for headaches, when applied in the same way as common vinegar. The ancients prepared this vinegar, and also the wine and oil of roses, which are no longer used.
Honey of rosesis made by beating up rose-petals with a very small portion of boiling water; the liquid, after being filtered, is boiled with honey. This is esteemed for sore throats, for ulcers in the mouth, and for anything that is benefited by the use of honey.
The fruit of the rose is said also to possess some astringent properties; the pulp of the fruit of the wild varieties, particularly of the dog rose, after being separated from the seeds and beaten up in a mortar with sugar, makes a sort of conserve, formerly known in medicine under the name of Cynorrhodon.
Children in the country sometimes eat these fruits after they have attained perfect maturity, and have been somewhat mellowed by the frost; they then lose their pungent taste, and become a little sweet. Belanger, a French writer, who traveled in Persia in 1825, found in that country a rose whose fruit was very agreeably flavored. The apple-bearing rose (R. villosa pomifera) produces the largest fruit of all, and is the best adapted for preserving; but an English writer remarks that the fruit ofR. systylaandR. arvensis, although of a smaller size, bears a higher flavor than that of any other species. Rose-buds, like the fruit, are also frequently preserved in sugar, and pickled in vinegar. Tea is sometimes made of the leaves of the rose, which are also eaten readily by the domestic animals.
The ends of the young shoots of the sweet-brier, deprived of their bark and foliage, and cut into short pieces, are sometimes candied and sold by the confectioners.
The Dog Rose takes its name from the virtue which the ancients attributed to its root as a cure for hydrophobia. The heathen deities themselves, according to Pliny,revealed this marvelous property, in dream, to a mother whose son had been bitten by a dog affected with this terrible disease.
The excrescences frequently found on the branches of the Rose, and particularly on those of the wild varieties, known to druggists by the Arabic name ofbédeguar, and which resemble in form a little bunch of moss, partake equally of the astringent properties of the Rose. These excrescences are caused by the puncture of a little insect, known to naturalists as theCynips rosæ, and, occasionally, nearly the same effects are produced by other insects.
The name of the Rose is very similar in most languages, but of its primitive derivation very little or nothing is known. It isrhodonin Greek; rhos, in Celtic;rosa, in Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, and Polish;rose, in French, Saxon, and English;rosen, in German;roose, in Dutch;rhoshà , in Sclavonic;ros, in Irish;ruoze, in Bohemian;ouasrath, in Arabic;nisrin, in Turkish;chabhatzeleth, in Hebrew; andgul, in Persian. These are the various names by which the flower has been known from very early times, and a strong resemblance can be traced through all. The Latin name,rosa, also forms a component part of terms used to designate several other things.
The name ofrosarywas given to a string of beads used in the Romish Church to represent a certain number of prayers; it was instituted about the year 667, but was notmuch used until Peter the Hermit excited the Christian nations to the Crusade, about 1096. Dominique, a Romish saint, established, in 1207, the brotherhood of the Rosary, and the festival of the Rose was instituted in 1571 by Pope Pius V., in thanksgiving for the victory gained by the Christians over the Turks at Lepante. Subsequent popes gave to that ceremony more éclat, and caused it to be established in Spain. The name ofrosarywas formerly also given to the vessel used in distilling rose-water. The Rose has also given the idea of new forms of beauty in architecture and the arts. A rose is sometimes sculptured in the centre of each face of a Corinthian capital. It is also frequently seen in iron castings for the banisters of the stone steps of a house, and it is sometimes displayed upon the pavement in front of some splendid mansion. This, however, is rare in the United States, although frequent in Europe.
Among all the imitations of the Rose, none can compare with those painted on glass, some of which can be found in the windows of celebrated European Cathedrals in Canterbury, Cologne, Milan, Rheims, St. Denis, and others. We can scarcely imagine anything more beautifully soft than these paintings on glass, as seen from the interior of a church, in the rich light of a glowing sunset; the Rose thus painted seems to possess all the freshness and beauty of the real flower.
The nave of the Cathedral of Paris, besides twenty-four large windows, is lighted by three others, large and magnificent, in the shape of a Rose, which are each forty feet in diameter. The paintings on glass which ornament these windows were executed in the 13th century, and still retain their fresh and bright colors: that over the grand entrance represents the signs of the zodiac, and the agricultural labors of each month.
In heraldry, the rose frequently forms part of a shield, in full bloom, with a bud in the centre, and with fivepoints to imitate thorns; it is an emblem of beauty and of nobility acquired with difficulty.
The Golden Rose was considered so honorable a present, that none but monarchs were worthy to receive it.
In the 11th century, the Pope introduced the custom of blessing a golden Rose, which he presented to some church, or to some prince or princess, as an especial mark of his favor.
In 1096, the Pope Urban II. gave a Golden Rose to the Comte d’Anjou. Alexander III. sent one to Louis, King of France, in acknowledgment of the attentions of that prince during the Pope’s visit to France, as stated in a letter which he wrote the King.
“In accordance with the custom of our ancestors, in carrying a rose of gold in their hands on Dimanche Lætare, we do not think we can present it to one who merits it more than yourself, from your devotion to the Church and to ourselves.â€
Pope John, in 1415, sent the Golden Rose to the Emperor Sigismund. Martin V., in 1418, sent another to the same prince. Pius II., in 1461, sent one to Thomas Paleologue, Emperor of Constantinople. Henry VIII., of England, before his separation from the Church of Rome, received the Golden Rose twice; the first from Julius II., and the second from Leo X.; and in 1842, the Pope’s Nuncio Capaccini presented it to Donna Maria, Queen of Portugal. Isabella, Queen of Spain, was presented with it a few years since.
The public ceremony of blessing the Rose was not instituted until 1366, by Urban V.: that pontiff, wishing to give a particular mark of his esteem to Joanna, Queen of Sicily, solemnly blessed a Golden Rose, which he sent her, and made at the same time a decree, that a similar one should be consecrated every year. For fifty or sixty years, the Pope gave the Rose to princes who came to Rome; and it was the custom to give 500 louis to theofficer who carried it for the Pope. The Rose, in its intrinsic value, was, however, sometimes worth double that sum.
We have thus given all the information we have been able to collect respecting the history of the Rose.
We shall feel abundantly gratified if the facts and anecdotes we have cited shall tend to enhance the already growing interest in this flower; and by thus connecting it with the lore of antiquity, cast around it a bright halo of pleasant associations.
Among the various riches of the garden, there are many flowers of great attractions: some we admire for their beautiful forms, others for their brilliant colors, and others again for their delightful fragrance; and we scarcely know which to pronounce the most pleasing. But whatever may be our feelings of admiration for these beautiful flowers, a desire for something still more beautiful draws us to the Rose, and compels us to pronounce it superior to all its rivals. It is the Rose alone that never fatigues, that always exhibits some new beauty, and that is never affected by fashion; for while Dahlias and other flowers have had their hour of favor, and have passed out of notice, the Rose has been a favorite for some three thousand years, and is still the first and most beautiful,—thechef d’œuvreof the vegetable kingdom.
The Rose is rendered a favorite by many pleasant associations. It has been the cherished flower of the ancient poets, and with modern poets it has lost none of its charms, but is still apostrophized and made an object of frequent comparison. With the ancients, it was, as we have seen, the ornament of their festivals, their altars, and their tombs: it was the emblem of beauty, youth, modesty, and innocence, and was full of tender sentimentand pleasant images. A French writer, in a somewhat more extravagant vein of laudation, says, “Its name alone gives birth in all sensible minds to a crowd of pleasant thoughts, while, at the same time, it excites a sensation of the most delightful pleasures, and the most sweet enjoyments.†The name of “Queen of Flowers,†has been given to the Rose, almost from time immemorial; but this name is particularly applicable to theR. centifoliaand the hybrids from it. Yet the little, modest wild rose, found only in woods and hedges, adorns the solitude where it grows, and possesses for many a charm not surpassed by that of any of the cultivated varieties: its regularly formed corolla, of a soft and delicate color, combines in its simplicity many an attraction not found in the most beautiful flowers of the garden; and late in the season, when the fields are stripped of their verdure, the landscape is enlivened by the bright appearance of its red, coral-like fruit.
The beauty of the Rose has preserved it and its reputation for many ages. The most populous nations, the largest cities, the most wealthy and powerful kingdoms, have disappeared from the earth, or have been involved in the revolutions and subversions of empires, while a simple flower has escaped them all, and still remains to tell its story. It has seen a hundred generations succeed each other, and pass away; it has traveled through ages without changing its destiny or losing its character: the homage rendered and the love borne it have been always the same: now, as in the earliest periods of the world’s history, it is decreed the first place in the floral kingdom. In these days, as in those of antiquity, it ispar excellence, the Queen of Flowers, because it is always the most beautiful, and because no other flower can furnish half its charms. To elegance and beauty of form it unites the freshness and brilliance of the most agreeable colors, and, as if nature had showered upon it all her most preciousgifts, it adds to its other qualities a delightful perfume, which alone would suffice to entitle it to a distinguished place among the beautiful and pleasant things of the vegetable kingdom.
Arbor for Roses96Bedding Roses100Botanical Classification7Diseases—Mildew140Mould141Rust140Eglantine19Forcing103Garden Classification27General Culture69Hybridizing130Insects—Gall-flies142Green-fly141Rose-bug146Rose-slug143Rose Leaf-hopper151Multiplication by Seed130Pillar Roses94Planting89Potting102Propagation—Budding120Cuttings113Grafting125Leaf-cuttings116Layers117Suckers120Pruning93Pyramids of Roses95Rosa agrestis19alba19arvensis20atrovirens22Balearica22Banksiæ25Belgica15-17bifera15blanda17bracteata12Burgundiaca18calendarum15canina20caryophyllea16centifolia16var. bipinnata17muscosa17pomponia17provincialis19Damascena15diffusa22Eglanteria19flava22florida22Rosa Gallica17var. parvifolia18glandulifera24glauca20glaucescens20glaucophylla13hemispherica13holosericea17Indica21var. Noisettiana22odoratissima21Indica fragrans22Laurenciana22lutea13flore pleno13microphylla12moschata24multiflora22var. Boursaulti24Grevillei23Russelliana24nitens20odoratissima22platyphylla23polyanthos16provincialis16remensis18Roxburghii23rubiginosa19rubra17rugosa22scandens26sempervirens22sempervirens globosa22senticosa20spinosissima14suavifolia19sulphurea13sylvatica17Teneriffensis20unguiculata16varians16Rose—Adornment of Burial Places167Attar of187Conserve of199Early History of153Early Works on9Electuary of200Geographical Distribution of11Honey of201In Ceremonies and Festivals167In the Middle Ages175Luxurious Use of161Medical Properties198Otto of187Perfumes of185Syrup of200Tables Concerning153Tincture of200Vinegar of200Rose-Water191Rose-leaves196Roses, Classes of—Ayrshire62Banksian63Bengal2-8Bourbon37Boursault64Brier59China40Climbing Tea48Damask52Evergreen65French52Garden52Hybrid Bourbon52Hybrid China52Hybrid Climbing66Hybrid Perpetual30Hybrid Provence52Macartney50Microphylla51Moss56Multiflora67Musk51Noisette41Polyantha48Prairie68Provence52Remontant30Remontant Moss37Remontant Scotch36Rugosa49Scotch59Tea42White52Situation88Soil86Sweet Brier19
VARIETIES AND SPECIES.
Abel Grand32Acidalie39Adam42Agrippina40Aimée Vibert41Alba odorata51Alfred Colomb32Alice Leroy56Amadis65American Beauty32Andre Schwartz43Anne de Diesbach33Anne Marie de Montravel48Annie Wood33Antoine Mermet43Antoine Mouton33Appoline39Auguste Mie33Ayrshire62Baltimore Belle68Banksian63Baron de Bonstettin33Baronne de Wassenaer56Baronne Prevost33Baroness Rothschild33Beauté de l’Europe41Beauty of Waltham33Blanche Moreau37Blush65Boieldieu33Bon Silene43Bougere43Boule de Neige33Boursault64Brier59Captain Christy33Captain Ingram56Capucine43Caroline43Caroline de Marniesse41Caroline de Sansal33Catharine Mermet43Celestial, S. B.60Celine Forestier42Cels multiflora40Charles Lawson, H. B.54Charles Lefebvre33Chénédole, H. C.54Clara Sylvain43Common56Comtesse de Frigueuse43Comtesse de Murinais56Comtesse de Serenye34Copper Austrian, A. B.60Coquette des Alpes34Cornélie Koch43Countess of Glasgow59Coupe d’Hébé, H. B.55Cristata56Daily Blush40Daily White41De la Grifferaie67Devoniensis43Dundee Rambler63Double Blush Ayrshire63Double Margined Hip, H. S. B.60Double Yellow64Double Yellow Provence60Douglass41Double White64Dr. Berthet39Duc de Magenta43Ducher41Elise Boelle34,42Emerance, H. P.55Eponine52Etendard de Jeanne d’Arc43Etna57Eugene de Savoie37Eugene Verdier34,57Evergreen65E. Y. Teas34Félicité Perpetuelle65Fisher Holmes34Fertuniana64Francois Michelon34Gem of the Prairie68General Tartas44General Jacqueminot34General Washington34George Peabody39George the Fourth, H. C.55Gloire de Dijon44Gloire des Mousseuses57Grevillei or Seven Sisters67Harrisonii62Her Majesty44Hermosa33Homer44Indica Major66Isabella Sprunt44Jane69Jaune d’Or44Jaune Serin64John Cranston57John Hopper34Jules Margottin34Julie d’Etranges, F.55Julie Mansais44La France34Lamarque42Laneii57La Reine35Laure Davoust67Little Gem57Little Pet41Louise Carique35Louis Gimard57Louis Van Houtte35Luxembourg57Mabel Morrison35Macartney50Madame Bravy44Madame Bréon41Madame Chedayne Guénoisseau44Madame Cusin44Madame d’Arblay66Madame de Rochelambert57Madame de Tartas44Madame Edouard Ory37,57Madame Falcot44Madame Gabriel Luizet35Madame Hardy, F.55Madame Plantier, H. C.55Madame Victor Verdier35Madame William Paul37Mademoiselle Cécile Berthod44Magna Charta35Maréchal Niel42,47Marguerite de St. Amande35Maria Leonida51Marie Baumann35Marie Berton44Marie Guillot45Marie Van Houtte45Marquise Balbiano40Marquise de Castellano35Marquise de Mortemarte35Marshall P. Wilder35Maurice Bernardin36May Paul45Melanie de Montjoie66Menoux66Merveille de Lyon36Microphylla51Mignonette49M’lle. Cécile Brünner49Moss56Mousseline37Mrs. Bosanquet41Mrs. Hovey69Musk51Myrianthes66Niphetos45Notting37Nuits de Young57Obscurité, F.55Œillet Parfait, F.55Ophire42Pæonia36Papa Gontier45Paquerette49Paul Neyron36Paul’s Single White36Paul’s Single Crimson36Perle d’Angers40Perle de Lyon45Perle d’Or49Perle des Jardins45Perpetual White37,58Persian Yellow, A. B.62Pierre Guillot45Pierre Notting36Polyantha48Pride of Waltham36Pride of Washington69Prince Camille de Rohan36Princesse Adelaide57Princesse Wilhelmine des Pays Bas49Princess of Nassau52Princess Royal58Puritan45Queen of Bedders40Queen of May59Queen of Queens36Queen of the Bourbons40Queen of the Prairies68Reine Blanche58Ramanas49Reine Marie Henriette45Rev. J. B. M. Camm36Rose Angle, S. B.62Rubens46Rubra51Russelliana67Safrano46Salet37,58Sir John Sebright66Solfaterre42Sombreuil46Soupert37Souvenir de la Malmaison40Souvenir d’un Ami46Stanwell36Sunset46The Bride46The Garland67Thomas Mills36Tricolor de Flandre, F.55Triomphe de Bollwiller66Triomphe de Guillot fils49Triomphe de Rennes42Vallée de Chamouny46Vicomtesse de Cazes46Victor Verdier36Viridiflora41Waltham Climbers48W. F. Bennett48White Baroness36White Bath58William the Fourth59