The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Apbil 2, 1908. 



in two or three months, and in othert I 

 have known it to lie dormant from twelve 

 to fifteen months. I have never been able 

 to give any reason why this should be 

 80, and, particularly, why there should 

 be marked differences in the periods of 

 germination in seeds taken from the 

 same hip; yet there is very frequently 

 a marked difference. 



Danger of Rash Judgment. 



To continue on the point I am making, 

 it takes anywhere from three to six 

 months, according to the vigor of the 

 plant, to bring it to such amount of 

 growth as will enable us to bud it for 

 the purpose of testing outside. Then, 

 when it is budded, of course it takes 

 a full year to bring the plant to ma- 

 turity. Here, again, one has to face 

 uncertainties and to be very careful about 

 forming a judgment, as experience has 

 proved time and again that in the early 

 stages of culture some varieties have 

 displayed the greatest shyness in flower- 

 ing, and yet, after a few years' cultiva- 

 tion, have taken their places in the front 

 rank, as perfect garden roses, blooming 

 with the greatest freedom. 



Each year we are compelled to make a 

 very close selection, and to discard every 

 seedling which does not suggest some 

 improvement in at least one or twq, of 

 the essential elements of the perfect 

 rose; otherwise we would, of course, 

 have been flooded out with varieties, 

 which would have been of no practical 

 value to us, or, indeed, to the rose world 

 at large. 



An Exact System of Experiments. 



The system we ultimately adopted 

 was hybridization, in the first instance, 

 between hybrid perpetual and teas, and 

 then inbreeding from their offspring, 

 upon the following lines: We made four 

 distinct crosses. We took a seedling of 

 our own, which gave some evidence of 

 possessing at least some of the qualities 

 aimed at, and in the first instance this 

 seedling was crossed with the male 

 parent; secondly, the seedling crossed 

 with the female parent; thirdly, the 

 male parent crossed with the seedling; 

 fourthly, the female parent crossed with 

 the seedling. 



As soon as we were able to form an 

 opinion of the results of this interbreed- 

 ing, we again made a selection of those 

 most closely approaching our ideal, 

 again inbreeding, but with this differ- 

 ence, that we only made use of a limited 

 number of parents, but in almost every 

 instance making a double cross. 



For example, if we made a seedling 

 with, say, Marie Van Houtte as the male 

 parent, then during that season we re- 

 versed the cross, making Marie Van 

 Houtte the seed-bearing parent, and the 

 seedling the male parent. We always 

 had relays of plants prepared in dupli- 

 cate for this purpose, and we carefully 

 and methodicaJly registered each experi- 

 ment, thus carrying on our work in a 

 systematic manner, the system of selec- 

 tion, of course, always playing the most 

 prominent part in the results. 



Gratifying Results. 



From practical experience, we were 

 able to ascertain which varieties, or 

 rather types, gave us the best results, 

 and we were, therefore, able to a con- 

 siderable extent to lessen the waste, and 

 to reduce our methods to a system con- 

 taining at least some elements of cer- 

 tainty. Of course, we have made use 



of varieties of other raisers, where wo 

 have been struck by any special features 

 which they contained, which were, in our 

 opinion, an advance upon anything in 

 commerce. 



The result of our labors has been to 

 produce what is admittedly an absolutely 

 distinct class, if not family, of roses, 

 known as the Alex Dickson type. We, 

 of course, claim that the types of roses 

 we have introduced have made a great 

 advance on those previously in com- 

 merce. We aimed at producing a type 

 having vigor of growth, freedom and 

 continuity of bloom, the flowers full and 

 perfectly formed, with unusually long 

 petals, at the same time growing on 

 bushes the foliage of which is luxurious 

 and handsome. How far the varieties 

 we have sent out have done what we 

 claim for them, you must judge. 



Work With La France. . 



In our experiments and in struggling 

 with t^e qualities wc have indicated, we 

 felt convinced that La France would 

 prove one of the most useful parents we 

 could possibly have, if we could suc- 

 ceed in making it produce seed. It was, 

 of course, the opinion of most hybridiz- 

 ers that La France was sterile, and with 

 this opinion we were for a long time 

 inclined to agree, and indeed the best 

 that could be said for it is this, that 

 there is just the possibility that it may 

 be fertilized. Out of many hundreds of 

 crosses with this rose, only in one single 

 instance did we succeed in making it 

 produce seed, but we feel that the labor 

 we spent was amply repaid, as the ulti- 

 mate result of it was the introduction of 

 Mrs. W. J. Grant, known to you as Belle 

 Siebrecht, in our opinion one of the 

 finest roses in cultivation, at least from 

 the Britishers' standpoint. 



Some Notable Varieties. 



In addition to this, we have always 

 found from practical experience that the 

 roses descended from this particular cross 

 have always impressed their offspring 

 with some, at least, of the more promi- 

 nent qualities of the parents, and it was 

 pursuing this particular line of breeding 

 that enabled us to produce varieties 

 which, from a British standpoint, are 

 ideal exhibition flowers, and at the same 

 time the plants are floriferous and of 

 excellent constitution. In this group we 

 might mention Killarney, Mrs. Edward 

 Mawley, Bessie Brown, Liberty, Lady 

 Moyra Beauclerc, Lady Ashtown, Mrs. 

 David McKee, Dean Hole, Countess of 

 Derby, Betty, Mrs. G. W. Kershaw, and, 

 last but not least, Mildred Grant and 

 William Shean, two of the finest exhi- 

 bition roses at present in cultivation in 

 Great Britain. Mildred Grant resulted 

 from a seedling between Niphetos and 

 Mme. Willermoz in the first instance, 

 crossed with a seedling of our own, 

 which is not in commerce, and the sys- 

 tem of which this is an instance applies 

 pretty generally to all the better classes 

 of roses introduced by us. 



The Long Sought Yellflw Tea. 



After many years of continuous ex- 

 periment on various lines, we have at 

 last been able to produce what has long 

 been sought for, namely, a yellow tea 

 of good size and color with the vigor 

 and hardiness of the hybrid perpetual. 

 I refer to the rose Harry Kirk, which 

 is now being grown by most of you, 

 and you will shortly be able to judge 

 whether it fulfills the promises we have 



made on its behalf. I think you will 

 not be disappointed. 



It is interesting to note, in relation to 

 the La France cross, that the same in- 

 clinatix)n to sterility is apparent in the 

 rose Augustine Guinnoisseau, a sport 

 from La France. Out of hundreds of 

 experiments, we have not succeeded in 

 getting a single seed pod from this 

 variety. 



Gintinuity of Bloom. 



The only other point of practical im- 

 portance, which occurs to me, is the fact 

 that in our early experiments, when we 

 had in view the object of producing 

 varieties which would give a greater con- 

 tinuity of bloom, we used in our efforts 

 Bosa Indictl, and after a considerable 

 amount of labor, we succeeded in im- 

 pressing this much valued quality on 

 some of its offspring whiiSb are now in 

 commerce. _. . .. 



In a general way, we foAid- it very 

 difficult, and indeed impossible, to- place 

 the smallest dependence upon the pre- 

 sumption that hybrid perpetuals would 

 impart to their offspring anything of 

 their own color, and in a general way 

 we may say that, after much experience, 

 the chief varieties which we use, and 

 use with the best results, for the pur- 

 pose of getting blends, are the hybrid 

 perpetuals, Horace Vernet, Charles Le- 

 febvre, General Jacqueminot, and also 

 Austrian briars, Persian Yellow and 

 Harrisonii. 



From what I have said, you will read- 

 ily appreciate t}ie fact that it would be 

 wholly impossible, and indeed, I think, a 

 waste of your time and mine, to give in 

 detail the results of thirty years' hy- 

 bridizing, and I have done my best to 

 make clear the general lines upon which 

 our work has been conducted, from which 

 it will be readily inferred that the ele- 

 ment of chance must always play a 

 prominent part, and I might aptly use 

 the well-known quotation from Pope: 



All nature Is but art, nnknown to thee; 



All chance, direction, which thou canst not see. 



And I ask such of you as may desire to 



enter for yourselves upon this interesting 



field of experiment, to go forward with 



confidence — 



Knowing that nature nerer did betray 

 The heart that loved her. 



CYCLAMENS IN SUMMER. 



I have 300 cyclamen plants which did 

 not bloom. Would you kindly tell me 

 the best way to keep them over summer 

 and when to start them to have them 

 bloom for Christmas? T. H. 



As you do not state the size or age of 

 your plants, I assume that they are prob- 

 ably seedlings raised last fall. These 

 should now be in 3-inch pots on a light, 

 sunny bench. A temperature of 50 de- 

 grees at night and plenty of ventilation 

 will suit them. Pot along before the 

 roots become matted. Let the next shift 

 be to 4-inch pots. Flower them in 5-inch 

 and 6-inch pots. June 1 your plants can 

 be placed on a bed of ashes in a cold- 

 frame, where they will do better than in 

 the greenhouse. Let. them have ventila- 

 tion both from the top and bottom of 

 the sashes. They require shade during 

 bright weather. Do not shade the glass 

 with whitewash. A better plan is to use 

 lath shades or cheesecloth run over the 

 top on a roller. Give all the light possi- 

 ble when bright sunshine does not strike 

 the frame. 



To ward off greenfly and thrips, put 

 tobacco stems among the pots, renewing 



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