of nature.

Eager to hasten her blooming, the gods watered her with nectar, and then this immortal flower elevated herself majestically on her thorny column." The Queen of Flowers.*

THE PROVENCE, OR CABBAGE, ROSE. (ROSA CENTAFOLIA.)

Rosier à Cent Feuilles.

THIS rose has long and deservedly been the favourite ornament of English gardens; and if, as seems very probable, it was the hundred-leaved 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 turns, with a sprig of rosemary, the Sunday bouquet of the respectable farm-servant and cottager.

This pretty appellative is no new creation: more than 2000 years ago Sappho wrote: "If Jupiter wished to give to the flowers a Queen, the rose would be their Queen."

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 flower-leaves.

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. In the following paragraphs I have confined myself to a description of those only that partake largely of the character of the common Cabbage or Provence Rose, and that are now (1846) worthy of cultivation; the latter name, I find, is not used by some recent writers in the Gardener's Chronicle, and elsewhere they write

"Provins," the name applied in France, as I have said in another place, to the Rosa gallica, a semidouble variety of which is cultivated largely in the environs of Provins, a small market-town sixty-six miles to the east of Paris, on the road to Nancy. By early writers on gardening our rose is called Rosa Provincialis, or the Provence Rose: no one seems to know why it was thus named, its origin being entirely lost; let us therefore assume that we owe it to the Provincial poets, the gay troubadours, who with chivalric liberality gave us their songs and their roses; and let us not lose its beautiful poetic name: it is indeed worthy of it.

The Crested Provence, Crested Moss, or Rosa cristata, for it is known by these three names, is said to have been discovered growing from the crevice of a wall at Friburg in Switzerland. No rose can be more singular and beautiful: the buds before expansion are so clasped by its fringed sepals, that they present a most unique and elegant appearance totally unlike any other rose.

It

When the flower is fully expanded this peculiar beauty vanishes, and it has merely the appearance of a superior variety of the Provence Rose. should here be mentioned that, if grown in a poor soil, its buds often lose their crest, and come plain like those of the latter. As a standard, this rose is very graceful, its large flowers and buds drooping from their weight.

De Nancy is a very desirable and pretty bril

liant coloured rose, at least brilliant as compared with others in this group; its colour is bright rose approaching to carmine. Rachel is simply a fine double rose, larger than the common Provence, and of a more vigorous habit. Sylvain is one of the most desirable of this family; its flowers are very double, finely shaped, and of the most brilliant carmine, so that when planted in a group they are always conspicuous; its habit is dwarf, and it does not form a good standard; not so however with our next. Triomphe d'Abbeville, one of the most vigorous-growing roses known, which, with its very large bell-shaped, but not very double flowers, of a light vivid crimson, forms as a standard a noble ornament to the lawn or terrace.

The Celery-leaved Rose, or Rosa apiifolia, is a curious rose, unlike any other its leaves are, perhaps, as much like imperfectly curled parsley as celery. The curled Provence is as beautiful as curious, having fine globular-shaped flowers, with petals waved in a very peculiar manner. Duchesne is a Provence Rose, a little hybridised, with very large, finely-shaped, and double flowers. The Dutch, or Large Provence, is exactly like the Old Cabbage Rose, and equally fragrant, but very much larger: this is a fine rose for forcing. Grande Agathe, also known as the Läcken Provence, is indeed a grand rose, remarkably double, and finely formed. Its flowers are of the palest flesh-colour: like some others of the true Provence

Roses, its clusters of bloom are too heavy and pendulous to be seen with effect on very dwarf plants. The Monstrous Provence, Cabbage-leaved, or Centifolia bullata, has that large and curious inflated foliage, which we have no expressive name for, but which the French call "bullée : " it is a vigorous-growing plant, with flowers like the Old Provence. La Reine de Provence really deserves to be the queen of this division. Its large and finely-shaped globular flowers have a good effect when suspended from a standard: these are of a pale lilac rose-colour, distinct and beautiful. The Scarlet Provence is an old variety, one of those misnomers that in flowers so often lead to disappointment: it was probably the first Provence Rose that made an approach to scarlet; but the faint carmine of its flowers is very far removed from that rare colour among roses. The Spotted Provence is a rose of great beauty, with large globular flowers of the deepest rose-colour, delicately spotted. This fine rose has large leaves, and makes upright shoots of great luxuriance and vigour.

The Unique Provence is a genuine English rose, which was found by Mr. Grimwood*, then of

*Mr. Grimwood, when on his annual business journey in 1777, perceived a beautiful white rose growing in the garden of Mr. Richmond, a baker, living near Needham Market, Suffolk : on inquiry, he found that it had been planted there by a carpenter, who had found it growing near, or in a hedge a short