is plenty of air, free access of sunshine to them, absence of moisture; and, if possible, the entire removal of overhanging trees, walls, etc. The influence of these atmospherical agents hardens the texture of the shrubs, and thus renders them impenetrable to these insects. In addition to this, their indolence and tenderness makes them prefer the shade for laying eggs, which seems never to be done but in darkness.

On terminating this little work, I propose to leave the solution of several points to those who shall continue it:

1st. What is precisely the species of the saw-fly, whose larva commits the havoc I have described ?

2d. Is that the true white-footed saw-fly, which I have designated by that name. 3d. What transformation does this larva undergo, after it leaves the passage which it has dug?

4th. Does it belong to the species of the Selandria Excavator?

5th. Where does it await the period of its transformation into a perfect insect?

We have enumerated but a very small part of the numerous insects which infest the rose, and in the absence of correct information on this important branch of floriculture, it is much to be hoped that farther investigations will be made by men of leisure. As an instance of the great variety of these insects, a French writer remarks, that "he found in less than an hour, on the leaves of two species only of the Rose, six kinds of small caterpillars, all differing from each other in the number of their feet, the color of their head and body, and the lines and points with which they were marked. Their habits were all apparently the same. They lived between two or three folds, which they had secured in shape by the films of their silk. Thus enveloped and protected, they eat the leaf until it is wholly or at least partly consumed. They then endeavor to establish themselves on another leaf, in which also they enwrap themselves and consume it in the same manner. The plants attacked by these caterpillars are known by their ruffled leaves, partly eaten and more or less covered with silk." The writer does not give their name, nor the result of any experiments for their destruction; he merely mentions it, as an instance of the great abundance of insects on almost every plant. Such being the case, there is abundant room for farther observation and research.

CLASSIFICATION.

CHAPTER XV

BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION.

HE Rose is a shrub or dwarf tree, with mostly deciduous foliage, and large, beautiful and fragrant flowers. Its branches are slender, almost always armed with thorns, thinly furnished with leaves, and usually alternating on the parent stem. Its leaves are usually pinnate, and varying in color and character, from the rich, dark green and somewhat rough leaf of La Reine, to the glossy smoothness and rich purple edge of Chromatella. The blossoms are variously arranged at the extremity of the newly-formed branches. The calyx is single and tubular, swelling at its lower part, contracted at its opening, and divided at the edge into five lance-pointed divisions, whole or pinnatified. The corolla or flower is inserted at the mouth of the tube of the calyx, and is composed of five heart-shaped petals, which constitute the Rose in its single or natural state. The double blossoms are formed by the change of the stamens and pistils, into petals or flower leaves, shorter than those of the corolla. The fruit or seed vessel or hep, is formed by the tube of the calyx, which becomes a sort of plump, juicy berry, globular

or oviform, having but one cell, and containing numerous small seeds which are oval or globular, and surrounded with a soft down. The wood is very hard and compact, and of fine grain; and if it could be procured of sufficient size, would serve as a substitute for box in many kinds of manufacture. Its longevity is, perhaps, greater than that of any other shrub. We recollect seeing a rose-tree near an old castle in Stoke Newington, England, the stem of which was of immense size, and indicated great age. "There is a rose-bush flourishing at the residence of A. Murray McIlvaine, near Bristol (Penn.), known to be more than a hundred years old. In the year 1742, there was a kitchen built, which encroached on the corner of the garden, and the masons laid the corner-stone with great care, saying "it was a pity to destroy so pretty a bush." Since then it has never failed to produce a profusion of roses, shedding around the most delicious of all perfumes. Sometimes it has climbed for years over the second-story windows, and then declined by degrees to the ordinary height. The fifth generation is now regaled with its sweets."

The number of species known to the ancients, was small, compared with the number now recognized by botanists. Pliny, with whom we find the most detail on this point, says, that the most esteemed were those of Præneste and Pæstum, which were perhaps identical; those of Campania and Malta, of a bright red color, and having but twelve petals; the white roses of Heraclea, in Greece, and those of Alabande, which seem to be identical with R. centifolia. According to the Roman naturalist and to Theophrastus, they grew naturally on Mount Panga, and produced there very small flowers; yet the inhabitants of Philippi went there to obtain them, and the bushes on being transplanted, produced much improved and beautiful roses. Pliny speaks also of some other species, one whose flowers were single, another which he terms spinola, and also that of Carthage, which bloomed in winter. Unfortunately, all that we find in his works on this subject is, generally, very obscure, and it is difficult to compare many he has described with those known at the present day.

Although there are no double wild roses known at the present day, either in Europe or in this country, yet as other flowers have been found double in a wild state, it is not impossible that some of the ancient varieties bore double flowers in their native condition in the fields. Such may have been the Centifolias, mentioned by Pliny and Theophrastus, as growing upon Mount Panga, and those which at a still earlier period, according to Herodotus, grew wild in Macedonia, near the ancient gardens of Midas.

The poverty in description which we have observed in ancient writings, and their comparatively small number of species, extends also to a much later day. In a little treatise published in France in 1536, and entitled De re Hortensis Libellus, there are but four species mentioned, and scarcely anything concerning their culture. An Italian work published in 1563, mentions only eight species. In the Florilegium of Sweet, a folio volume printed at Frankfort in 1612, are ten very coarse representations of roses, but with no indication of their names.

In the Paradisus Terrestris of Parkinson, a folio volume printed at London in 1629, some twenty-four species are mentioned. Some of them are represented by figures in wood, which are very coarse, and scarcely allow recognition of their species. In the Jardinier Hollandois, printed at Amsterdam in 1669, are found but 14 species of roses, very vaguely described, with scarcely anything on culture.

The first work which treated of roses with any degree of method, is that of La Quintyne, published at Paris in 1690, and yet its details of the different species and varieties do not occupy more than a page and a half, while twenty-one pages are given. to the culture of tulips and fifty to pinks. While he describes 225 varieties of pinks and 413 tulips, he mentions only 14 species and varieties of roses. For a century subsequent to the publication of La Quintyne's work, the Rose is very little mentioned, either in English or French works, and there is nothing to indicate the existence at that time of many species, two or three only being required for medicine and perfumery. Some of

the English collections, however, numbered during that century some 22 distinct species, and a number of varieties. In 1762, Linnæus was acquainted with only 14 species. In 1799, Wildenow, in his Species Plantarum, mentioned 39; and Persoon, a little later, reached 45 species; De Candolle, in his Prodromus, &c., published in 1825, increased the number to 146; and Don, in 1832, makes 205 species. If to these are added those which have been within fifteen years discovered in the Himalaya mountains, and in other parts of the globe, the number will be greatly increased.

Many of those enumerated by Don, should not, in truth, be considered distinct species, and quite a number are nothing more than varieties. In fact, roses are so liable to pass into each other, that botanists are now of the opinion that limits between what are called species do not exist; a fact which was strongly suspected by Linnæus, when he said, "Species limitibus difficillime circumscribuntur, et forte natura non eos posuit."

There is much confusion in the genus Rosa, and in the best arrangement, there may be many which on close examination, would scarcely deserve the name of species. The best scientific work on the Rose, is the "Monographia Rosarum," by Dr. Lindley. This author and Loudon, we shall follow entirely in our botanical classification. The latter enumerates several other works on the Rose, which are not within our reach.

The Rose is found in almost every part of the northern hemisphere, between the 19th and 70th degrees of latitude.

Captain Fremont, in his description of the Prairies some five hundred miles west of St. Louis, says "Every where the Rose is met with, and reminds us of cultivated gardens and civilization. It is scattered over the prairies in small bouquets, and, when glittering in the dews and waving in the pleasant breeze of the early morning, is the most beautiful of the prairie flowers."

It is found from the mountains of Mexico to Hudson's Bay, from the coast of Barbary to Sweden, in Lapland and Siberia, from Spain to the Indies, China and Kamschatka. "In Asia, half the species have been found; of the thirty-nine which it