VIII PROPAGATION 159 



even in favourable weather, it is plain that the 

 crossing should take place early in the season. 



The seeds should be sown at once, when the pod 

 is ripe, a point that may be judged from the bright 

 red colour and general appearance of the Eose-fruit. 

 They should be sown in pots in a compost of equal 

 parts of loam, burnt earth, and sand, well-drained 

 but pressed firm. About half an inch of sand should 

 cover the seeds, which may be put about an inch 

 apart. The pots should now be thoroughly watered 

 and kept in a temperature of from 45° to 55° ; but, 

 however managed, the seeds come up most irregu- 

 larly, few germinating before the lapse of six weeks, 

 and some taking as many months or even a year or 

 two before they grow. 



Even when they have come up, a good many will 

 soon die though the utmost care be given them ; and 

 with anything like neglect of the strictest require- 

 ments of young plant life, wholesale destruction may 

 be expected. The first opportunity should be seized, 

 after they are pricked out and have commenced to 

 grow, for budding or grafting them on manetti or 

 briar stocks, for it is very difficult, especially for a 

 novice, to estimate the value of the first bloom on 

 the seedling plant itself. 



If unwilling to experiment in hybridising, an 

 amateur may still leave a few of his earliest Rose 

 pods on the chance of their ripening, as many did 

 in the hot season of 1893. If these be carefully 

 sown, as described above, a rich prize may possibly 

 be attained (though the number of '^blanks is 

 astounding), for a large number of our best Eoses 

 were raised in past years by French nurserymen in 

 this haphazard fashion. 



