Weekly gbemawa JUtnericast
VOL. 13 NOVEMBER 11, 1910 NO.
MarecKal Neil Rose.
Chemawa is famous for her great
abundance and variety of ropes. During
the rose season all of us take pride in
our beautiful "Rose Avenue," along
which can be found man)7 of the world s
choicest roses. Not the least of these . is
the famous "Marechal Neil'' rose. How
many of us who love the roses know the
romantic little story connected with
the naming of the beautiful blossom?
Very few we suspect. Well, for the
benefit of those not acquainted with the
story we leprint it as told by an ex
change, as follows:
In 1857, when the French arm7 was
in Italy, Neil commanded the third army
corps, and at Magenta and Solferiho he
did such brilliant service that when peace
was declared at Paris he was ceated
marshal of France. His service for his
country was so brilliant and so success
ful that in 1867 he was made French
minister of war.
In all the .successes of the life of tho
French soldier he never forgot he inci
dent which gave his name io the now fa
mous lose. It was a touch of romance
that appealed to his Irish naturn and in
tensified his devotion to his Empress:
18
An Italian peasant woman brought
him one day a basket of roses from the
campagna of a variety he had never seen
He was particularly fond of roses.
When they had faded and he was
obliged to throw them away, he noticed
among the withered stems and leaves a
green shoot of several inches in length.
Wondering why this had flourished, he
discovered that a bit of the root had been
cut away with the flower .stem.
This small incident made a happy im
pression, and he decided to send the root
to France and have it cultivated. The
campagna rose was of single leaf, and in
color a pale yellow.
According to his direction the rose
slip was carefully planted and the next
spring four exquiste buds, of pale lemon
tinge, appeared upon the rose bush.
When the time came that Neil was to be
decorated with the cross of the Legion of
Honor and made a marshal of France he
presented the beautiful Empress Kugenie
with a'singularly perfect and fragrant
yellow rose, the like of which she had
never seen.
When lie told her the story of this
little plant she was intensely interested
and s?id to him: "I shall christen this
(Continued on page 8.)