264 The Rose Amateur^ s Guide. 



Treatment of Moss Roses — Production of neio hinds. — Moss roses, when 

 grown on their own roots, require a light and rich soil : in such soils, they 

 form fine masses of beauty in beds on lawns. In cold and clayey soils 

 they in general succeed much better worked on the Dog Rose, forming 

 beautiful standards. I have ascertained that they establish themselves 

 much better on short stems, from two to three feet in height, than on taller 

 stems. If short, the stem increases in bulk progressively with the head, 

 and the plants will then live and flourish a great many years. 



To give a succession of bloom, the plants intended to flower early should 

 be pruned in October, and those for the second series the beginning of 

 May, — shortening their shoots, as recommended for the Provence Roses. 

 Gi^e them also an abundant annual dressing of manure on the surface, in 

 November. 



To raise Moss Roses from seed is a most interesting employment for the 

 genuine rose amateur ; such a pleasing field is open, and so much may yet 

 be done. The following directions will, I hope, assist those who have 

 leisure, perseverance, and love for this charming flower. A plant of the 

 Luxembourg Moss and one of the Single Crimson Moss should be planted 

 against a south wall, close to each other, so that their branches may be 

 mingled. In bright, calm, sunny mornings in June, about ten o'clock, 

 those flowers that are expanded should be examined by pressing the fin- 

 gers on the anthers ; it will then be found if the pollen is abundant ; if so, 

 the flower of the former should be shaken over the latter ; or, what per- 

 haps is better, its flower-stalk should be fastened to the wall, so that the 

 flower will be kept in an erect position. Then cut a flower of the Lux- 

 embourg Moss, snip oif its petals with a sharp pair of scissors, and place 

 the anthers firmly but gently upon a flower of the Single Crimson, so that 

 the anthers of each are entangled : they will keep it in its position : a stiff 

 breeze will then scarcely remove it. The fertilising will take place with- 

 out further trouble, and a fine hep full of seed will be the result. To 

 obtain seed from the Luxembourg Moss, I need scarcely say that this 

 operation must be reversed. — Rivers's Amateurs Guide, pp. 19 and 20. 



George IV. Rose, its origin. — Rivers's George the Fourth is still, per- 

 haps, one of the best of this family : it was raised from seed by myself, 

 about twenty years ago, and contributed probably more than anything to 

 make me an enthusiastic rose cultivator. I hope to be pardoned the di- 

 gression, but even now I have not forgotten the pleasure the discovery of 

 this rose gave me. One morning in June I was looking over the first bed 

 of roses I had ever raised from seed, and searching for something new 

 among them with all the ardor of youth, when my attention was attracted 

 to a rose in the centre of the bed, not in bloom, but growing with great 

 vigor, its shoots off'ering a remarkable contrast to the plants by which it 

 was surrounded, in their crimson purple tinge ; upon this plant I set my 

 mark, and the following autumn removed it to a pet situation. It did not 

 bloom in perfection the season after removal, but, when established, it 

 completely eclipsed all the dark roses known, and the plant was so vigor- 

 ous that it made shoots more than ten feet in length in one season. This 

 plant is still living, and nearly as vigorous as ever. It is now much es- 

 teemed in France, where it is comparatively a new variety. — Id. p. 46. 



Great Westerji Rose. — Those who know the old rose, Celine, may at 

 once form an idea of the habit of this rose, which is even more robust, and 



