VIII PROPAGATION 159 
even in favourable weather, it is plain that the 
crossing should take place early in the season. 
The seeds should be sown at once, when the pod 
is ripe, a point that may be judged from the bright 
red colour and general appearance of the Rose-fruit. 
They should be sown in pots in a compost of equal 
parts of loam, burnt earth, and sand, well-drained 
but pressed firm. About half an inch of sand should 
cover the seeds, which may be put about an inch 
apart. The pots should now be thoroughly watered 
and kept in a temperature of from 45° to 55°; but, 
however managed, the seeds come up most irregu- 
larly, few germinating before the lapse of six weeks, 
and some taking as many months or even a year or 
two before they grow. 
Even when they have come up, a good many will 
soon die though the utmost care be given them; and 
with anything like neglect of the strictest require- 
ments of young plant life, wholesale destruction may 
be expected. The first opportunity should be seized, 
after they are pricked out and have commenced to 
grow, for budding or grafting them on manetti or 
briar stocks, for it is very difficult, especially for a 
novice, to estimate the value of the first bloom on 
the seedling plant itself. 
If unwilling to experiment in hybridising, an 
amateur may still leave a few of his earliest Rose 
pods on the chance of their ripening, as many did 
in the hot season of 1893. If these be carefully 
sown, as described above, a rich prize may possibly 
be attained (though the number of :blanks is 
astounding), for a large number of our best Roses 
were raised in past years by French nurserymen in 
this haphazard fashion. 
