MULTIPLICATION BY SEED AND HYBRIDIZING. 137 



ized must be opened gently with the fingers. A flower 

 that will expand in the morning should be opened the 

 afternoon or evening previous, and the anthers all remov- 

 ed with a pair of pointed scissors. The following morn- 

 ing, when this flower is fully expanded, it must be fertil- 

 ized with a flower of some variety of whose qualities it is 

 desired to have seedlings largely partake. It requires 

 some watchfulness to open the petals at the proper time ; 

 if too soon, the petals will be injured in forcing them 

 open, and in hot weather, in July, if delayed only an hour 

 or two, the anthers will be found to have shed their pollen. 

 To ascertain precisely when the pollen is in a fit state for 

 trausmission, a few of the anthers should be gently press- 

 ed with the finger and thumb ; if the yellow dust adheres 

 to them, the operation may be performed ; it requires close 

 examination and some practice to know when the flower 

 to be operated upon is in a fit state to receive the pollen ; 

 as a general rule, the flowers ought to be in the same 

 state of expansion, or, in other words, about the same age. 

 "To exemplify the process, we will suppose that a 

 climbing Moss Rose, with red or crimson flowers, is wish- 

 ed for: the flowers of the Blush Ayrshire, which bear 

 seed abundantly, may be selected, and before expansion, 

 the anthers removed ; the following morning, or as soon 

 after the operation as these flowers open, they should be 

 fertilized w4th those of the Luxembourg Moss ; if the 

 operation succeed, seed will be procured, from which, the 

 probability is, that a climbing rose will be produced with 

 the habit and flowers of the Moss Rose, or at least an ap- 

 proximation to them. I mention the union of the Moss 

 and Ayrshire Roses by way of illustration, and merely 

 to point out to the amateur how extensive and how inter- 

 esting a field of operations is open in this way. I ought 

 to give a fact that has occurred in my own experience, 

 which will tell better with the sceptical than a thousand 

 anticipations. About four years since, in a pan of seed- 



