294 PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 



botanical authority one consults for information on this point. Some 

 make the number of species 250, but modern botanists have reduced it 

 to about thirty, all natives of the temperate and colder regions of the 

 Northern Hemisphere. The number of varieties in cultivation is un- 

 known, for old ones become obsolete, as new ones are introduced, 

 although there are always several thousand enumerated in rose-growers' 

 catalogues. The Rose is a universal favorite among all civilized nations, 

 and the difference in the fragrance of the flowers of the varieties is only 

 equalled by their variation in size, form and color. To attempt to clas- 

 sify the cultivated Roses at the present day would be a hopeless task, for 

 species have become so intermixed that specific characteristics have been 

 mostly obliterated. In the propagation of the Rose, every mode at all 

 applicable to ligneous plants is employed in its multiplication. Roses 

 are raised from seeds, not only for the purpose of producing new varie- 

 ties, but sometimes for stocks on which to bud or graft the improved 

 sorts. For all the common, hardy varieties of the Rose that produce 

 seed, the fruit or "heps "as English gardeners call them should be 

 gathered when ripe, and thrown into some vessel where they will be 

 moist until the surrounding pulp becomes soft ; then crush and wash out 

 the seeds, and either mix with sand and set aside where they will freeze, 

 or sow immediately in a bed in the open air, and treat as recommended 

 for Hawthorn and other similar seeds. But if there is danger of mice 

 getting into the bed during the winter, it is best to keep the seeds in the 

 boxes with sand, covering with wire netting to keep them out. In 

 spring, sow the seeds and sand together in seed-pans, boxes, or in an 

 outside frame, but always where they can be given plenty of water and 

 be protected from vermin. Scalding the seeds before sowing will hasten 

 germination, but it is not usually necessary, if the seeds have been kept 

 moist and cold during the winter. Sometimes the seeds will not sprout 

 until the second year, and it is well to keep the seed beds moist through- 

 out the summer, even if some plants do appear the first season, as more 

 will usually come up the second. As soon as the plants are large enough, 

 they should be carefully lifted and transplanted into other frames or 

 boxes. The tender Roses maybe raised in the same way, only avoid 

 subjecting the seed to as low a temperature, and it is better to sow it in 

 pans or shallow boxes in the house. Green cuttings of what are called 

 the Tea, Noisette, Bourbon, Hybrid and Hybrid Perpetuals, and several 

 other classes, strike root quite freely in sand under glass, and this is the 

 Usual method of propagating these varieties. Some of them, however, 

 are rather slow growers and shy bloomers on their own roots, and to in- 

 crease the growth and vigor, they are budded on hardy and strong-grow- 

 ing varieties, such as the Manetti, Sweet-briar and Dog Rose. These 

 kinds are also employed as stocks for many other varieties, both tender 

 and hardy. Hardy Roses, however, if naturally of a free-growing habit, 

 are to be preferred on their own roots, especially for amateurs, who can- 

 not be always on guard, lest some sucker from the root comes up and 

 robs the graft of its nutriment. Roses are usually budded in the open 



