242 LUTHER BURBANK 



obvious that the pedigrees in a few generations 

 become so complicated that if one were to at- 

 tempt to trace them there would be little time left 

 for any other experiments, and so I have con- 

 tented myself with watching for results among 

 the hybrid progeny of these roses of multiple 

 ancestry. 



There are a few of the new developments that 

 carry strains of almost every rose generally 

 known and cultivated up to within ten years ago, 

 and several species not under cultivation. 



SOME ANCESTORS OF THE NEW ROSES 



It would be superfluous to name all the species 

 that I have had under cultivation and have tested 

 as to their possible value as hybridizing agents. 



Even were I disposed to make such a record, 

 it would necessarily lack finality. For there are 

 perhaps few plants regarding which botanists are 

 more at variance, when it comes to the matter of 

 classifying and differentiating the species. 



It is recorded, for example, that some classi- 

 fiers estimate the total number of species of roses 

 at about thirty; whereas, on the other hand, a 

 French botanist of some authority has described 

 no fewer than 4,266 species from Europe and 

 western Asia alone. Meantime, botanists in gen- 

 eral are disposed to recognize something over 100 



