The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-11-22
ROSES:

The rose is the type of large family
Of plants known as RosGce9. To this
family belong our finest flower and
our most valuable fruits. The apple,
pear, plum, cherry, almond, ounce,
peach, blackberry, raspberry and straw
berry all belong to this family, with
| many varieties Of desirable flowers, be-
sides the queen of the garden. OF the
rose itself there are many species, be-
| ginning with the common dog or wild
rose of the fields and woods up to the
delicate china rose, the odorous damask
rose of Provence, which yields the fra
grant and costly altar, and the delicious
roses OF our gardens, the hybrid or re-
montant, with their gorgeous color,
and the moss rose with Its beautiful
buds. The dog rose, with its single
flower, consisting of five petals, is the
| type of the whole family, including even
the cultivated kinds, which have great
number of so-called petals, but which
are really changed stamens and pistils
that go to make up the double blossoms.
The rose is extremely long-lived, and
trees and bushes still exist in vigor
which are considerably more than one
hundred years old. It is propagated
by seed and by all the arts known to
the gardener, as by layering, by cut
tngs OF the stem or roots, by grating
and by budding. Ithas been the theme
OF the most ancient poets and has been
used TO adorn the gardens of civil
lied man from the most remote
periods. All the ancient writers
upon husbandry have treated of
the culture of roses. The Greek
Theophrastus,. and the Latins Varro,
Columella, Virgil and Pliny have ali
written more or less fully upon this
subject. The twentieth book of Pliny's
Natural History" is devoted to roses,
and they are referred to in other por-
tions of the work. The cultivation of
the flower must have been quite extern
sive In those days, for roses were used
In profusion in the ancient religious
ceremonies, but, while the flowers were
extensively cultivated, the art of propa-
eating them, producing new varieties,
was almost unknown. Still, while
modern rose-cultivators have greatly
increased the varieties and have i'm
proved the form and color of the flow
ers, yet all our present profusion in
quantity is far less than that which the
Romans produced in their gardens from
the few kinds which they cultivated.
so enormous was the quantity of fow-
ers grown and used that the stories of
the righteousness of the Sybarites,
who were not satisfied with less lux
urious bed than one of rose-leaves, and
used these flowers abundantly for this
purpose, are not at all incredible. It is
certain, however, that the Roman gar
deners possessed some varieties now
lost and unknown excepting in history.
and which have been sought for by en-
terprising florists without success
throughout all Italy. A kind which is
said by Pliny and Virgil to have
bloomed semi-annual1y. for instance,
has not been discovered, although it
has been closely searched for.
The Roman gardeners possessed the
secret OF forcing and retarding the
blooming of their roses, and in this way
continued the blooming season during
nearly the whole year. Florists did not
want Tor patronage in those DAYS, al
though the same complaints which we
now hear of were made then about the
S1DA e1lAO LIlG EmDGT~
ors and mobiles of Rome. Nero spent
10000 of our money for roses alons
~ one fete, while tenth part of ths
sam spent by our modern Cresus very
A&ently was considered most extravs
agant outlay, even for an extraordi-
nary occasion, for all the floral decora.
tons. All the rose-houses in the world
at this day could not supply the de-
mand of ancient Rome alone.
The Greeks were the first to extract
perfumes from roses, and this art was
acquired by the Romans and has CON-
dnued in the East to the present day.
where large plantations are cultivated
expressly for the production of the
costly altar. The island of Rhodes was
chiefly occupied by rose gardens, and
its name signifies the isle of roses,
Rhodon being the Greek word for rose:
while medals are still in existence In
cabinets of collections which were struck
In Rhodes having q rose on one side
and sunhower on the other. The |
Moors in Spain followed the Romans in
this special culture, and, if we may be-
heve history, possessed variety which |
exists now only in the imagination of |
the swindling flower peddlers, who offer |
for sale blue roses and tree strawber7 |
ries. The Moorish historians mentioned |
fose-culture as prominent pursuit. |
and said: There are roses Of manI /