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PART II.

THE AUTUMNAL ROSE GARDEN.

PERPETUAL ROSES

THE BOURBON ROSE

THE CHINA ROSE

THE TEA-SCENTED CHINESE ROSE

THE MINIATURE ROSE

THE NOISETTE ROSE

THE MUSK ROSE

THE MACARTNEY ROSE

ROSA MICROPHYLLA

PLANTING

ABRIDGED LIST OF ROSES

LIST OF NEW ROSES

LIST OF SHOW OR PRIZE ROSES

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THE

SUMMER ROSE GARDEN.

THE PROVENCE, OR CABBAGE,
ROSE.

(ROSA CENTIFOLIA.)

THIS rose has long and deservedly been the favourite ornament of English gardens; and if, as seems very probable, it was the hundredleaved rose of Pliny, and the favourite flower of the Romans, contributing in no small degree to the luxurious enjoyments of that great people, it claims attention as much for its high antiquity, as for its intrinsic beauty. 1596 is given by botanists as the date of its introduction to our gardens. That "prince of gardeners,” Miller, says that it is the prettiest of all roses; and this idea still prevails to a great extent in the agricultural districts of England, where, in the farm and cottage gardens, the Cabbage Rose and the double wall-flower are the most esteemed inmates; forming in their

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turns, with a sprig of rosemary, the Sunday bouquet of the respectable farm-servant and cottager.

The groves of Mount Caucasus are said to be its native places of growth, and also Languedoc and Provence; but the claims of these latter have been disputed. I lately wrote to a very old rose amateur in France for information on this point. He informs me that the species with single flowers is found in a wild state in the southern provinces; it is therefore very probable that it was called the Provence Rose from growing more abundantly in that province: it has now, however, quite a different name in France, for it is called the "Rose à Cent Feuilles," from the botanical name, Rosa centifolia, or Hundred-leaved Rose. I must here confess that, when I was a young rose-fancier, this name often misled me, as I was very apt to think that it referred to the Scotch and other small and thickly leaved roses, not for a moment supposing that the term was applied to the petals or flowerleaves.

Hybrid roses, between this and Rosa gallica, are called Provence Roses by the French amateurs of the present day. Our Provence, or Cabbage, Rose is exceedingly varied in the form and disposition of its petals: the first in the catalogue, Anemoniflora, has those in the

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