74- HOSES THAT BLOOM IN JUNE. 



GROWING ROSES FR03I SEED. 



To the amateur this opens a field of very interest- 

 ing amusement. It is an object which may profitably 

 occupy every leisure moment. The time spent upon 

 impregnating, saving the seed, sowing, and watching 

 every movement of the plant, till it develops its beau- 

 ties of inflorescence, w^ill be amply compensated should 

 the rose prove of new character. If not worthy, it is 

 at least a good stock to be used in budding or grafting 

 upon, and even then causes no loss. In the centre of 

 many roses there are a number of thready filaments 

 surmounted by what botanists term anthers j these are 

 small oval forms which, when ripe, contain a quantity 

 of pollen or yellow dust, which can easily be perceived 

 between the finger and the thumb after giving them a 

 gentle pressure. This pollen, though to the naked 

 eye a fine powder, and light enough to be wafted 

 along by the air, is very curiously formed,* and varies 

 exceedingly in different plants. Under the micro- 

 scope each grain of it in the rose is a membranous 

 round bag, which remains 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 

 stiif protuberance in the very centre of the flower). 



