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Gardening for Amateurs 



in the open air in Great Britain or Ireland. 

 A glasshouse provided with heating appar- 

 atus is necessary. 



Gross-fertilisation is effected as fol- 

 lows : The pollen is taken from the anthers 

 of the Rose blossom which is to act as one 

 parent, and is carefully deposited on the 

 stigmas of the Rose blossom which has been 

 selected as the seed parent. It is better to 

 use some instrument such as a camel-hair 

 brush, but the tip of the little finger will do. 

 Before this operation is performed in fact 

 directly the flower which is to be the seed 

 parent has begun to open all the petals 

 must be pulled off from this flower, so that 

 the stamens, which include the anthers, may 

 be removed to prevent self-fertilisation. 

 If the fertilisation be successful, pods will 

 form, swell, and eventually ripen if sufficient 

 heat be maintained in the house. The seed 

 obtained from the pods is sown in December, 

 and when the little plants have grown to 

 some size, buds are taken from them and 

 inserted under the bark of brier seedlings, 

 or cuttings, or of some other foster -parent. 



These grow and eventually blossom, and 

 then it is seen and known for the first time 

 whether a valuable new variety of Rose has 

 been created, or whether all the time, trouble 

 and expense have been wasted. Unfor- 

 tunately, the latter is more commonly the 

 result, and I note that Mr. Alexander Dick- 

 son, of Belfast (than whom probably nobody 

 knows more with regard to this matter), says 

 that he and his brother consider that the 

 percentage of new Roses that would be 

 considered really first-rate works out at 

 only about -5 per cent., or one plant in 

 two hundred, and that the plants have to 

 be tested from five to seven years before 

 they consider it safe to issue them to the 

 public. 



Such a statement from such an authority 

 shows that only a plucky, clever, intelligent, 

 and extremely persevering amateur should 

 undertake this work. There are men, I 

 know, to whom this warning or advice will 

 act only as a spur or inducement to under- 

 take the work, and if they possess the 

 qualifications mentioned above, I trust they 

 will be successful, but if unsuccessful, they 

 will at least learn something which will not 

 lessen their respect for the men who are 



performing this work with such wonderful 

 success men with both a natural and a 

 cultivated perception of beauty of form and 

 with an acute sense of colour men like the 

 Dicksons, the M'Gredys, M. Fernet Ducher, 

 and Herr Lambert. 



Stocks for Roses. Of these there are 

 many kinds. For standards the stocks used 

 are generally long stems of Brier or Rosa 

 Rugosa (Japanese Brier) which have been 

 cut back in spring to the desired height. 



The dwarf stocks most generally used are 

 Seedling Brier, Cutting Brier, Manetti and 

 Rugosa, but De la Grifferaie, Rosa laxa, 

 Polyantha, and possibly others are some- 

 times used, though mostly for special reasons 

 and for special purposes. At the present 

 time the majority of British and Irish Rose 

 growers use principally the Seedling Brier 

 as being the best all-round stock, but Rugosa 

 stocks seem to be growing in favour, and are 

 largely used on the Continent. Rosa laxa 

 is said to be especially suitable for light soil, 

 and readers having ground of this character 

 should try a few Roses on the laxa stock. 



Budding Roses. This is best carried 

 out in early July for standard, and in late 

 July for dwarf stocks. A light touch, a 

 steady hand, and a clear eye are needed in 

 the performance of this work. 



In the case of standards budding is 

 simplicity itself, nothing more being necessary 

 than the removal of a few thorns from two 

 of the side growths of the previous season's 

 wood at the required height. The shoots 

 or growths to be budded should be about as 

 thick as a lead pencil, or thicker, and the 

 bud should be inserted as near to the base 

 of the shoot, that is as near to the main 

 stem, as it can be placed. Details as to 

 making incisions in the bark, etc., are given 

 in the description of budding dwarf stocks 

 which follows. 



When Budding Dwarf Stocks it is 

 necessary first to remove the soil at the base 

 of the stem the " collar," as it is often called, 

 this being the portion of the stem imme- 

 diately above the roots. This part is then 

 rubbed with a cloth or a piece of sacking 

 until clean. The buds it is intended to insert 

 should be obtained from a shoot that has 

 just flowered and is in ripe condition, which 

 is evidenced by the fact that the thorns rub 



