OLD AND NEW ROSES. 219 



the efforts which are being made in this line. 

 To obtain a variety which shall in a large 

 degree combine the hardiness of La Reine 

 or Jacqueminot, with the fragrance and free- 

 blooming qualities of Madame Bravy or Bon 

 Silene, is surely worth striving for. 



This leads us to a consideration of the roses 

 of the future, what they may be, what they 

 should be. Roses of the past have been the 

 product of nature, unaided by the hand of 

 man. Roses of the present also chiefly come 

 from sowing the seeds of varieties which 

 have not been crossed, except as the crossing 

 has been a matter of chance by natural 

 agencies. In some instances efforts at arti- 

 ficial hybridization have been recorded that 

 have given successful results. Roses of the 

 future may and should come principally as 

 the result of artificial fecundation and hy- 

 bridization. A long essay would be required 

 to treat this subject and do it justice in a 

 magazine article. I can only touch on some 

 of the more salient points. Laffay, who 

 raised most of the Hybrid Remontants of 

 value previous to 1850, is understood to have 

 produced many of them by crossing artifi- 

 cially varieties of the Bourbon roses with the 

 old crimson Rose du Roi. Vibert, Hardy, 

 and some other of the French rosarians are 



