ROSES THAT BLOOM IN JUNE. 75 



plants. Under the microscope each grain of it in 

 the rose is a membranous round bag, which re- 

 mains entire, and can be kept dry and perfect for 

 days and weeks. On its application to the moist 

 tip of the pistil (which in the rose is a stiff protube- 

 rance in the very centre of the flower) it bursts 

 with great force. When flowers are designed to 

 be operated upon, the one intended to produce the 

 seed should be deprived of its anthers early in the 

 morning, which can readily be done with a pair of 

 fine scissors ; then during the day, or within two 

 days, take a fine camel hair pencil, and obtain, 

 about noon, the pollen or dust from the plant or 

 plants with which you intend to make the cross, 

 and apply this dust to the pistil of the roses from 

 which you have previously extracted the anthers. 

 It will require some practice before proficiency can 

 be attained in the operation, but a little attention 

 will insure some success. The organs are fit for 

 the operation when the pistil has a glutinous ap- 

 pearance on its summit, and the pollen is dry and 

 powdery. The flowers may be one or two days 

 old; rain is fatal to the operation dry weather, 

 therefore, must be chosen. Patience and assiduity 

 can accomplish wonders in this department of rose 

 culture ; the persevering efforts of the French cul- 

 tivators have been so very successful within the 

 last ten years that we do not at all despair of 



