IlAISI^^G YARIETIES FROM SEED. 121 



tained, its possession will amply repay the labour 

 bestowed : but these light gardening operations 

 are not labour ; they are a delightful amusement 

 to a refined mind, and lead it to reflect on the 

 wonderful infinities of nature. 



A large field is still open for the seedling raiser, 

 and it will suflfice, without indicating any par- 

 ticular varieties, to point out that a change may 

 be produced from, any seed raised from the best 

 flowers in tlie rose garden : fertilisation is at all 

 times uncertain, although worth trying. Many 

 years since I fertilised, as I thought successfully, 

 tlie flowers of red roses with white, but out of 

 some hundreds which I flowered I could not 

 detect any influence ; the seeds raised from Greneral 

 Jacqueminot and Charles Verdier, both varieties 

 profuse in seed bearing, produced flowers of 

 various shades of colour, but remarkably like the 

 parents : one seedling which I thought might 

 prove an improvement was as much like the 

 Comtesse d'Oxford, as one twin is like another. 

 The seedling raiser will be sure to gain many 

 good sorts, as the seedlings must have passed 

 through many generations, and have to a certain 

 extent become fixed in their special characteristics; 

 in any case, the plants being on their own roots 

 are sure to be desirable additions to the garden. 



