THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 65 



VARIETIES OF ROSES THAT ORIGINATE BY SPORTS. 



{With Coloured Illustration of Fink Gloire de Dijon.) 



JT is not known how many varieties of garden rosea 

 originated in sports, but the experienced rosarian will 

 fairly assume that they constitute but a very small 

 proportion of the kinds in cultivation. The rose is not 

 sportive ; it is one of the most constant of flowers, and 

 on those rare occasions when sports occur it is difficult to fix them, 

 and we are really not sure of them until they have been establisbed 

 some years apart from the plants out of which they originated. 

 There is always a probability of their sporting back, and thus mock- 

 ing all our labour. Hence it follows that to obtain new roses we 

 must raise seedlings, and this brings the production of new rosea 

 into the front of the fine arts ; whereas, if we waited for sports, we 

 should be trusting to chance, which is not one of the arts at all. 

 How different is it with the chrysanthemum, which is constantly 

 sporting into new colours, and produces new varieties in this way, 

 that are easily fixed, so that they soon acquire names and characters, 

 and a place in competitions as important as veritable seedlings can 

 hope for. Take Cedo nuUi, for example. It exists in no less than 

 five distinct colours, white, lilac, yellow, brown, and purple, and 

 four of these are sports that appear to be as constant as seedlings. 

 In Chapter xxii. of the " Rose Book " will be found an account of a 

 method of producing rose sports by means of incipient buds, cut 

 from the lower parts of the shoots of the year. This procedure may 

 ensure spotted and striped flowers, but hitherto it has not, so far as 

 I know, produced a single variety worthy to be named ; for our 

 annual importations of new roses are seedlings, certainly. In the 

 case of a sport occurring, however, the cultivator would be bound to 

 do bis best to fix it, and the first step would be to enter on briers or 

 manettis, as might be most convenient, all the good buds that could 

 be taken from the shoot on which the sport occurred. That being 

 done, we should make the best of what remained of the shoot, with 

 a view to secure own root plants, even if we put the soft top into 

 heat to compel it to make roots. 



Amongst the more notable sports of roses, three occur to me aa 

 demanding notice. Some years ago I obtained from Mr. Verschaf- 

 felt his red variety of Souvenir de la Mahnaison, which was figured 

 in " Illustration Horticole," pi. 303. This was an extremely pretty 

 flower of a cherry-red colour ; but the plant did not grow satisfac 

 torily at Stoke Newington, and I never recommended it. The Bed 

 Lamarque was equally unsatisfactory, for although it flowered freely, 

 the colour was not good. Now we have a FinJc Gloire de Dijon 

 that is really beautiful, and promises to become a garden favourite. 

 Referring to the December issue of the " Journal of the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society," wherein it is figured, I learn that it originated 

 with Mr. A. S. Kemp, the plant being a true Gloire de Dijon on its 



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March. 



