124 



The Rose Garden. 



Surely not. Will not the same skill which produced dark and light Bourbon Roses 

 prove adequate to any future reasonable demand ? 



But the plants are in flower, and we are now called upon to act. Keeping in 

 mind the points recently advanced, let us next inquire What is there desirable 

 among Roses that we do not already possess ? The answer to this question will be 

 the things we should endeavour to obtain. But shall we be satisfied with merely 

 crossing the varieties, and gathering and sowing the seeds indiscriminately ; or do we 

 wish to know the results of the turn we are seeking to give to the workings of 

 Nature ? I think this knowledge is desirable, and it certainly heightens the interest 

 of the work. To carry it out with little trouble it is a good plan to obtain some thin 

 sheet-lead, and cut it into strips an inch long and a quarter of an inch wide. On 

 these may be stamped figures from one to an indefinite number, and as each flower 

 is crossed, one of these numbered leads is wound round the flower-stalk. The 

 number is then set down in a book, and the names of each parent, with the object in 

 view, are entered opposite the number. 



Here is an extract from my note-book : 



No. 8. Before the Waltham Climbers appeared we had really no good red 

 climbing Autumnal Roses, and we are still in want of darker varieties of such. 



No. 13. Queen of Queens was the first Hybrid Perpetual with pink centre 

 and blush edges in the way of the old Maiden's Blush, and there is still room 

 for more varieties in this style. 



No. 28. There is yet no really handsome globular-shaped crimson Moss 

 Rose, for Luxembourg is weak and Laneii is dull and confused. A Duke of 

 Edinburgh with a thick mossy envelope, would, we think, be deemed an accept- 

 able flower.* 



It may interest our readers to have an example of the results of individual crosses. 

 Baroness Rothschild crossed with Madame Falcot produced four seedlings as 

 follows : No i, a single pink Tea-scented Rose with smooth wood and of dwarf 

 habit. Nos. 2 and 3, single pink Bourbon Roses of climbing habit. No. 4, a semi- 

 double Tea-scented Rose, flowers almost white, with a yellow tinge at the base of the 



* Since this was written I have obtained the beautiful Moss Rose "Crimson Globe." 



