The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-08-17
ANTIQUITY OF THE ROSE.
The Flower Goes Back Beyond I'll:

The Flower Goes Back Beyond tEe
Most Ancient Records.
The royal rose has a pedigree to
shame any other queen. it is so long,
so full Of enchanting turns and twists
and so delightfully."- numbered with
myth, fable and history. She is in q
way !; paradox. since, although by aD-
pearancc and perfume the most troD'
ical of blossoms. she IS yet by nativity
a flower of north temperate latitudes
ucr habitat is bounded north and
south, roughly speaking. by the twen'
tieth and the seventieth parallels. She
grows wild all over Europe, in Africa
as low as AbySSinia. in Asia to anu
through India and in North America tc
the edge Of Mexico
Most wild roses are single, yet Pllny
mentions double ones. among them the
hundred leaf, ana HerodotuS says
"Macedonia has gardens of Midas, with
roses Of sixty petals breathing out a
delightful perfume Whoever has
read Roman history must recall the
roses of Paestum. which bloomeo
twice a year. Notwithstanding this
Rome's fayorite rose was the Hundred
Leaf. 1t followed the eagles and the
legions wherever they went and grows
today over three parts Of the Roman
world, 4 vital record Of that old time
occupation.
Etymologically rose is from the
Celtic rhodd OF rhudd, rcd" also the
root of ':ruddy." Tie Greek name
rholon, has the same meaning. Sc
have most rose names in any language
Botanically tie flower gives name tc
the great natural order rosaceae. Arti
fcially it is classed under polygoniae
the many angled The wild forms
have always feshy, urn or pitcher
shaped caIyxes, twenty or more sta
mems, fye'petals and five sepals. The
sepals show a bit of natures most
cunning work. Two Of them are beard
ed at both edges, two without boards
and the fifth bearded at one edge and
straight along the other. Thus they
inclose the bud with bearded over
lap along every seam, good to repe
moisture and to put to rout every In
trusive creeping thing.
Rose cultures beginning goes bacI
beyond records. The flower is men
toned in the earliest Coptic manu-
scripts. India's traditions take the
rose to the times Of the gods on earth
Egypt had roses, wild and tame, before
the Roman occupation made it in 9
way Rome's commercial rose garden
Yet, curiously enough, there is no ref
erence to the flower in painting, sculp'
ture or hieroglyphics. Japan in oul
time parallels Egypt. Roses flourish
there, but do not serve as motif fol
artists. There is this further likeness
neither Egypt nor Japan has a rose
song or a love song proper, so it may
well be that madam the rose is ayenG
ed for the slight.
The Jews, returning from the Baby
loniSh captivity, took with them q
recompense of roses. Semiramis, Will
the world at her feet, found her CHIEF
Joy in a bower Of roses. Mohammet
turned back from Damascus after
viewing it encircled with rose gardens
1T is too delightful. \ man can have
but one paradise" said the prophet
Damascus lies in the heart Of Syria
whose name some geographers derive
from seri, meaning wild rose, ano
wild roses are abundant there. The
damask roses Of our gardens so back
to Damascus. They were brought
from it at the time Of the crusades
although exactly when or by whom
nobody can certainly say.-Martha Nc
Culloch- Williams in Success.