1572 



ROSE 



Some Eecent Kose Hybrids (Rosa muUitiora, R. ru- 

 aosa and R. Wichuraiana crossed with various types). 

 -It is now about sixteen years since the undersigned 

 became interested in hybridizing Roses, especially 



2185. Rosa rugosa, var. Kaiserin (X %), 



-K. multiflora (the Japanese type), R. rugosa and R. 

 Wichuraiana. The earliest experiments were made 

 with R. multiflora, the object being first to obtain 

 colored flowers and afterwards to get double ones, but 

 always to keep the hardiness and habits of growth of 

 R. multiflora. There are few pillar or half-pillar Roses 

 that will stand our New England climate without pro- 

 tection, and therefore this type was chosen as the 

 hardiest, and effort was made to retain its strong 

 'constitution and later to get other improvements. 

 How far the writer has been successful may be 

 judged by his exhibits at the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural shows and by a visit to the Arboretum. 

 This work, started by some others as well as the 

 undersigned, has been the means of having these 

 new types of Roses taken up by the growers, and 

 there are many possibilities for improvement. 

 There seems to be no reason why they should not 

 be as fine for use in the garden as the Hybrid Per- 

 petuals are for flowers. 



The first cross made by the writer was with General 

 Jacqueminot, R. multiflora being the female parent, 

 and the result was anything but satisfactory. At last a 

 break was made. All sorts of forms were secured, some 

 resembling both parents in flower and foliage, but 

 most of them were worthless. Two were saved, one 

 with large clusters of double purplish Roses, fully 

 as large as Jacqueminot, with a big stem closely set 

 with heavy spines, a long, rampant growth unlike 

 either parent, the foliage of a Hybrid Perpetual and 

 flowers in clusters of 10 to 20. The other, the widely 

 known Dawson Rose (silver medal Mass. Hort. Soc. 

 1894) has large clusters of bright rose flowers, 20 to 40 

 on a stem, bright shiny foliage and a strong growth, 

 sometimes running up 15 feet or more in height. The 

 writer again crossed R. multiflora with Madame G. 

 Luizet and obtained a half-climbing plant with large, 

 single white flowers in clusters. An attempt was then 

 made to cross these three crosses with other choice 

 Roses for still further improvement, but no perfect 

 seeds were made except on the Dawson. By crossing 

 the Dawson with other Roses several fine forms have 

 been secured, beautiful types of cluster Roses, single, 

 semi double and double, all more or less with the habit 

 of R. multiflora in the truss and with white, peach, 



ROSE 



salmon, red and purple flowers. Attempts have been 

 made in crossing the Yellow Harison Rose with the 

 Dawson and R. multiflora, but so far with no encour- 

 aging results. The writer now has about 500 hybrids, 

 three years old, made with differing varieties of Hybrid 

 Teas and Yellow Harison on the Dawson, with results 

 still to be determined. All these were crossed out of 

 doors with every precaution possible, but the results 

 are not so likely to be as good as when the work is done 

 under the more perfect control of the greenhouse. A 

 cross between the Dawson and Crimson Rambler has so 

 far resulted in a single deep pink flower borne in 

 clusters. 



In crossing R. rugosa with Jacqueminot every con- 

 ceivable form was obtained, some with narrow pointed 

 petals, some semi-double and others single, dark and 

 light colors. One had a deep rich crimson flower, darker 

 if anything than Jacqueminot, very fragrant, with strong, 

 heavy foliage, showing the influence of both parents. 

 This seemed like a promising foundation for a fine race 

 of hardy Roses, but for five years all efforts to get a 

 single hip to mature when fertilized with others have 

 been in vain. This is the Arnold Rose and received the 

 silver medal of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 in 1893. In this batch of seedlings was one that was 

 very double and in color like Magna Charta, but unfor- 

 tunately some one else wanted it and one day it disap- 

 peared from the nursery. The writer has also crossed 

 R. rugosa with Yellow Harison, but as yet has obtained 

 no yellow Roses of the Rugosa type. On the contrary, 

 they are the biggest lot of mongrels one ever saw, in 

 both foliage and flower. The Rugosa foliage is com- 

 pletely obliterated, and the Harison retained, while the 

 flowers are small and generally a dirty salmon color. 

 The writer was so disgusted with the lot that he threw 

 them all away after working more than four years on 

 them. 



Attention was next given to R. Wichuraiana. The 

 possibilities of crossing this seem to be unlimited. No 

 Rose that the undersigned has ever tried yields so 

 readily to hybridizing. The first attempt was with 

 Jacqueminot, always using R. Wichuraiana as the 

 mother plant. The results were excellent. While some 

 plants were nearly R. Wichuraiana they were entirely 

 different in sha e and color; they had the clusters, 



2186. A Rugosa hybrid Harisou's Yellow X R. rugosa (X %). 



