220 THE ROSE. 



also known to have produced a great many 

 of our most beautiful roses by manual fertili- 

 zation ; but as no record has been kept of the 

 varieties used for the purpose, the result of 

 their work is of no use to the hybridizer of 

 this day further than to afford proof that de- 

 finite results can better be obtained from 

 artificial than from natural crosses. Our aim 

 should be to control and assist nature, as far 

 as possible, in her tendency toward variation. 

 There has been so much carelessness, not 

 to say ignorance, with regard to the parentage 

 of the various varieties of roses, that I do not 

 think it would be possible to name fifty kinds 

 and give the parentage on both sides. For 

 the past twenty-five years, nature has been 

 so lavish in producing variations of great 

 beauty, that those who have raised new roses 

 have been content to gather the heps and 

 sow the seed, depending on natural crosses 

 to produce new and desirable kinds. Not 

 only have they thus entirely relied on nature 

 to accomplish what they wished ; they have 

 not even taken the pains, except in few in- 

 stances, to separate the seed of one variety 

 from that of another, but have sowed them 

 all promiscuously. To trace the peculiarities 

 of each variety, learning just what influence 

 each parent had in forming the qualities of 



