64 STATE HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The genus Eosa, Darwin says, is a notoriously diflficult one. From 

 time immemorial roses have been artificially or naturally crossed, till 

 it is almost impossible to name species and varieties. As an illustra- 

 tion of the rapidity with which new varieties are formed, a case is cited 

 where some wild Scotch roses were transplanted into a garden. At 

 the end of 20 years, by selection, but with no fresh kinds, 26 well- 

 marked varieties were found, and within 50 years 300 varieties had 

 come from the same species, of various sizes and all colors, yellow, 

 white, pink, crimson and variegated. It is a well-known fact in evolu- 

 tion, that after great changes have been produced by crossing and 

 recrossing, there is a tendency both in the animal and vegetable world 

 to a reversion to the original type. In this way, when the origin of 

 certain forms, now common, has been lost in the obscurity of the past, 

 it is often made clear by such a case of atavism. New varieties are 

 made in several ways — by crossing, by bud variation, and by grafting 

 buds — these last being very rare. Crossing is simply effected by plac- 

 ing the pollen of one variety across the stigma of another. The seed 

 which is the result of this process bears a resemblance, more or less 

 marked, to both parent forms. Bud variation is when, from some un- 

 known cause, on a single branch some new form will arise, which may 

 be retained by careful cultivation. Graft hybridization occurs in rare 

 cases where, just at the point of juncture between the grafted branch 

 and the stalk, a shoot arises which partakes of the character of both 

 stalk and graft. 



The moss-rose is undoubtedly a case of bud variation from the old- 

 fashioned Provence rose. Moss rose trees have been known to bear 

 perfect Provence roses with no sign of moss upon them, and Provence 

 rose-trees to bear moss-roses in the same way. Such bud variations 

 when very singular are called sports ; the white rose called the Bride, 

 for instance, is a sport from the Catherine Mermet. D'Orbessau, in 

 his '• Essay on the Eose," states that he saw blue roses growing wild, 

 near Turin ; other writers profess to have seen and grown blue roses. 

 But these were probably purple, a color often confounded with blue by 

 people whose calling has never trained them to discrimination in color. 

 A law has been discovered in vegetable physiology in regard ta color, 

 which is, that varieties of the same species do not exist in all the three 

 colors, yellow, blue and scarlet. Occasionally, by manipulation or 

 accident, such a sport occurs, or is approximated ; but the variety is 

 not stable, is not a well-established variety that can be propagated. 

 This law is not a bad thing to keep in mind in buying rare plants. 



Haj, a Moorish floriculturist of the middle ages, states that his 

 people knew how to delay the blooming of roses, to keep them in the 



