Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-07-14
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THE ORIGIN OF ROSES.

The royal rose has a pedigree to shame
any other qucen-it is So long, SO fun of
enchanting turns and twists, and SO de-
lightfully numbered with myth. fable,
and history. She is IL a way. a paradox,
since, although by appearance and per
fume tn" most tropical of blossoms she
is yet by nativity a flower of north-tcm-
poratc ATTITUDES. Her habitat is bounded
north and south, roughly speaking. by
the twentieth and the SEVENTEEN parallels.
She grows wild all over Europe, in Africa
as low as Abyssinia. in Asia 30 and
through India, and in North America
to the edge of Mexico.
Most wild roses are single, yet fluy
mentions double Oncs-among them the
Hundreds eaf-anl Herodotus SAYS:
"Macedonia has gardens of Midas with
roses Of sixty petals breathing out n
delightful perfume" Whoever has read
Roman history must recall the roses of
| Paestum. which bloomcd twice a year.
NotwithstandinG this. Romc's favorite
rose WIS the Hundrod-leaf. II followed
the eagles and tn" loeions wherever they
went, and grows, to-day, over three parts
| that oll-timc occupation.
EtymoloElCallY, pose is from the Gel
| tic rhodd or rhudd, 'rod," also the root 4
| "ruddy." The Greek name rhodon, has
the same meaning. So have most rosc
| names, in any language Botancally, the
/ n
| order rosacca. Arthcially. it is claSscd
under polygonia-thc many-angled The
| wild forms have always heshy. urn, or
| pitcher shaped Calyxes. twenty or more
stamcns, five petals, ana five sepais. The
| sopals show n bit of natures most cum
ming work. TWO OF them are bearded
at both edges. two without boards, and
the NTH bearded at one edge and straight
| along the other. Thus they inclosc the
bud with "A bearded overlap along every
scam, good to rcpel moisture and to put
to rout every intrusive creeping thing.
| Rose cultures beginning goes hack be-
yond records. The flower is mcnti ,ncd in
the earliest Coptic manuscripts. India 5
| traditions take the rose to the times
of the gods on earth, Egypt had roses,
| wild and tame. before the Roman oCcNpn-
ton made II, in n way Rome's CONNER
| cial rose garden: yet, curiously enough.
| there is no reference to the flower in
painting. sculpture, or hicroGlyphics, ia
| pan, in our time, parallels Egypt. Roses
i flourish there but do not serve n s n motif
| for artists. There is this further like
] ness-neither Egypt nor Japan has a
rose song, or love song proper-so il
may well he that madam. the rose. is
avenged for the slight,
/ The Jews. returning from the Babylon
ish captivity. took with them a recon
pense Of roses. Semiramis. with tho world
II at her feet, found her chief Joy in bower
oil roses Mdho"l'' tufh'd PACK from va
mascus. after viewing It encirclad " IL
rose gardens. "lt IL too delightful. A
n man can have but one paradise" SAID
the prophet. Damascus lies in the heart
of Syria. whose name some geographers
!, derive from seri, meaning a wild rose
and wild roses arc abundant there, 7 h,
| damask roses Of our gardens go back
to Damascus. They were brought from
IL at the time of the Crusadcs-al'hougi
, exactly when, or by whom nobody car
certainly says