FERTILISING THE FLOWERS. 163 



four years since, in a pan of seedling Moss Roses, 

 was one with a most peculiar habit, even when 

 very young ; thi^ has since proved a hybrid rose, 

 partaking much more of the Scotch Rose than of 

 any other, and till the plant arrived at full growth 

 I thought it a Scotch Rose, the seed of which had 

 by accident been mixed with that of the Moss 

 Rose, although I had taken extreme care : to my 

 surprise it has since proved a perfect hybrid, 

 having the sepals and the fruit of the Provence 

 Rose, with the spiny and dwarf habit of the 

 Scotch Rose ; it bears abundance of hips, which 

 are all abortive.* The difference in the fruit of 

 the Moss and Provence Roses and that of the 

 Scotch is very remarkable, and this it was which 

 drew my particular attention to the plant in 

 question ; it was raised from the same seed, and 

 in the same seed-pan, as the Single Crimson Moss 

 Rose : as this strange hybrid came from a Moss 

 Rose accidentally fertilised, we may expect that 

 art will do much more for us. 



The following extract from the 'Botanical 

 Register' for January 1840 will, I think, go to 

 prove that these expectations are not without 

 foundation : 



principal reason for publishing a figure 



* It is more than probable that if the flowers of this rose were 

 fertilised with those of the single Moss Eose, they would pro- 

 duce seed from which some curious hybrid Moss Eoses might be 

 expected. 



M 2 



