330 On the Cultivation of hardy varieties of Roses. 



Art. III. Observations on the Cultivation of hardy varieties of 

 Roses from seeds. By L. Boll, Florist, &c., New York. 



In a late number of your Magazine, I observe an article, (p. 

 241,) by Mr. Buist, of Philadelphia, on the germination of the 

 seeds of roses, which corresponds very nearly with ray own ex- 

 perience upon the same subject. In your brief remarks, ap- 

 pended to the article, you express a desire that some of your 

 correspondents would give you a detailed method of the germina- 

 tion and vegetation of the more robust and hardy kinds, Mr. 

 Buist's experiments having been confined altogether to China 

 and other tender roses. I will therefore endeavor to offer, in a 

 few words, my own method of cultivation and treatment, which 

 I have followed with complete success for several years. 



When the seeds are perfectly ripe in the fall of the year, I 

 pick them from the plants and put them in a flower-pot, and set 

 them away in a dark place, where they remain. The seeds are 

 taken off in the hips, and it is very important that these should 

 be put where they cannot dry up, and where they can be pre- 

 served in a humid state. I leave the hips in this state for ten or 

 fifteen days, when I begin to open them and pick out the seeds 

 ready for sowing, having first prepared my compost, which is 

 generally composed of one third heath soil, one third fresh loam, 

 and one third road sand, or scrapings of the highway. 



I generally sow the seeds in boxes, which I prefer to pots for 

 most all kinds of seeds. When they are all planted, I take some 

 lime-dust and strew slightly over them. Afterwards I finish the 

 operation, by covering the whole with a layer of the compost 

 first mentioned, which I press down firmly, and give a gentle wa- 

 tering with a water-pot through a fine rose. 



I then remove the boxes of seeds into a dark place in the 

 green-house, (underneath the stage, or where they will get as lit- 

 tle light as possible,) or into a pit. Each box I cover with a 

 pane or piece of glass, according to the size of the boxes, to pro- 

 tect the seeds from the rats, which I find very troublesome. I 

 leave the whole in this state until the month of February, when I 

 again remove the boxes to a warm place in the green-house, on 

 the stage, as near the glass as possible, where they will have plen- 

 ty of light and air. 



Seeds of hardy roses can be forced as well as the tender 

 kinds, viz. the Chinese, and the tea or the noisette: but 1 would 

 observe, that there is considerable risk of losing a great portion of 

 the seedlings, from the excessive humidity of the atmosphere at 

 this season, which causes the young seedlings to be attacked by 

 what is termed the mildew, (nieller.) When this occurs, the 



