80 CULTURE OF THE ROSE. 



hybridize a rose, which, after all the labor spent upon it, will 

 not produce a single seed-vessel. Fortunately, many of 

 the best roses bear seed abundantly ; and La Reine, Gene- 

 ral Jacqueminot, Jules Margottin, Madame Laffay, and. 

 many others as good as these, may confidently be relied on. 

 It is a good rule, that no seedling-rose is worth preserv- 

 ing, or at least worth propagating, that is not, in some one 

 point, superior to or distinct from any other rose existing. 

 Roses should be hybridized immediately after they open, 

 or they will become thoroughly fertilized with their own 

 pollen, and the object of the operation will thus be defeat- 

 ed. The best time of the day is about ten o'clock in the 

 morning, as soon as the sun has dried the dew from the 

 centre of the flower. The pollen of the rose whose quali- 

 ties it is wished to impart may be applied to the pistils of 

 the maternal or seed-bearing flower with a camel's-hair 

 pencil ; or one rose may be held over the other, and tapped 

 with the finger till the pollen falls upon the pistils of the 

 seed-bearer. Roses are uncertain as to the production of 

 pollen. In some seasons and some situations it is abun- 

 dant, while in others it is produced very scantily. The 

 impregnated roses may be marked by strings or labels 

 tied to their stems. The seed should not be gathered till 

 the first frost ; and, to insure its ripening, the plant should 



