Viviand-Morel: Amateur Rose Breeding 



421 



open ground and, if necessary, taken 

 back under glass in October, to finish 

 ripening their fruits. 



It seems probable that a certain num- 

 ber of types of roses which have given 

 good products in the past have not yet 

 said their last word, in view of the fact 

 that general conditions have been modi- 

 fied since they were first used. If the 

 seed-producers are still the same, yet it 

 can be said that many of the pollen 

 carriers have been singularly modified. 

 Since one of the parents has changed in 

 nature, there is reason to suppose that 

 if the old crosses were made over again, 

 they would give different results from 

 those originally obtained. 



TO GET JULY ROSES. 



I am referring particularly in this 

 passage to a well-known type of rose of 

 the group of bracted roses (Rosa brac- 

 teata), also called Macartney roses, 

 which produced by hybridization a rose 

 known to the trade as Rosa alba odorata, 

 and another known as Maria Leonida. 

 This type has remained quite constant. 

 But the Rose of India, one of the par- 

 ents, has undergone great modification 

 since 1850. Who can say that another 

 hybridization would not produce a dif- 

 ferent rose alba odorata, which would 

 open easily and yet retain that precious 

 habit of flowering in July when most 

 roses have finished their first flowering 

 season! I am not overlooking the fact 

 that we have July roses on young plants 

 grafted that same year, but on old 

 plants they are rare. 



There are other curious wild types 

 introduced in botanical collections which 

 seem to have been overlooked by bold 

 and persevering hybridizers. Let me 

 note, in passing, Rosa xanthina, which 

 does not seemed to have been " worked." 



And there are still others. I will limit 

 myself to those two. Another thing. It 

 seems that some of the paternal and 

 perhaps maternal ancestors of some of 

 the finest hybrid climbing or remon- 

 tants have perhaps been modified, if 

 they have not been altogether lost. 

 While General Jacqueminot gave rise to 

 a numerous progeny, how many replicas 

 of different colors — aside from sports — 



has Baronnc Rothschild produced? And 

 Paul Neyron? And others? 



It is very desirable to know how to 

 fight in retreating, when the offensive is 

 no longer practicable. Generals have 

 become distinguished by such tactics — 

 witness Xenophon and Moreau. 



What precedes is merely a morsel of- 

 fered to amateurs who want to try new 

 problems and leave the beaten paths. 

 If they attempt crosses between the old 

 types, long crossed and recrossed, and 

 new, untried species, they will perhaps 

 get more failures than successes, the re- 

 sults of hybridization being uncertain 

 and sometimes disconcerting. Here, 

 however, are a few hints that may be 

 useful : 



In crossing a new type with simple 

 flowers, which is to be used as a pollen- 

 izer, it is desirable to choose a fertile 

 mother with double flowers, whose an- 

 cestors are also double or semi-double 

 flowering. Duplication being highly 

 esteemed in garden roses, the reciprocal 

 cross may also be tried hopefully. 



PRACTICAL HINTS. 



In making crosses with old roses of 

 large flowers, like Paul Neyron, it seems 

 that success might be gained by working 

 again the variety Anna Diesbach, with 

 hybrid remontants, or hybrid Teas, of 

 recent Pernetiana. That is a proposi- 

 tion to be verified. 



With Baron de Rothschild, the ances- 

 tors might be found through atavism, 

 after two or three generations of experi- 

 ment. If so, these ancestors ought to be 

 worked in their turn. 



When one hybridizes two remontant 

 roses, one of which although perfectly 

 remontant has in its maternal line non- 

 remontant roses, the products may be 

 either single or double flowered. I had 

 occasion to cross the Polyantha Perle 

 d'Or (Dubreuil) by the ordinary Bengal 

 and obtained two huge Multifloras. The 

 characters of the Bengal and of the half- 

 blood tea, of the Perle d'Or, had dis- 

 appeared from the product. Neverthe- 

 less, every one knows that the little 

 dwarf Polyanthas, so prolific in blooms, 

 are the products of a cross between mul- 

 tifloras and tea roses, in all probability. 



