This section is from the book "The Gardener's Monthly And Horticulturist V28", by Thomas Meehan. See also: Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long.
It seems that the first impulse given to Rose culture in France was at the commencement of the present century, under the auspices of the Empress Josephine. At that time it appears that Rose seeds, obtained from all parts of the world, were sown annually. It also appears that any new varieties raised in this way were not purchasable, but exchanged for other plants to such nurserymen as would undertake to distribute them. At this time it seems that there were eighteen hundred varieties of Roses in France, but not more than two-thirds of that number were considered to be worthy of cultivation. Standard Roses were quite as much in favor then as they have been at any time since. It was not an unusual sight to see them 18 feet high, and sometimes from ten to fifteen sorts were grafted on one Brier. - Garden.
 
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