38 THE AMATEURS’ GUIDE 
IMPREGNATING THE SEED. 
To be successful in this operation, some practice is necessary ; 
but, by careful attention, success will eventually reward the efforts 
of the operator. Roses have in their centre thready filaments, 
surrounded by anthers. These, when ripe, contain a yellow dust, 
the pollen of the plant. This pollen should be applied to the tip 
of the pistil, which is in the very centre of the flower, when it 
bursts, and, if the plant should seed, generally impregnates the 
same to more or less extent. The flower to be operated upon to 
produce the seed, should be deprived of its anthers early in the 
morning, with a pair of small cissors. During the day, or the 
next, with the aid of a fine camel-hair pencil, obtain the pollen 
from the plant you desire to cross, and apply the same to the 
pistil of the plant from which you have extracted the anthers. 
Wet or damp weather is unfavorable to the success of this experi- 
ment. In order to insure success, the pollen should be dry and 
powdery. About the first of November the seed will be matured, 
and should then be gathered, retained in their capsules, and buried 
in sand, until the following spring About the first of May en- 
suing, having prepared the ground, in a shady position, which 
should be enriched by the addition of well-rotted manure, or 
leaf-mould, well pulverized, remove the seed from the hips and 
sow them thinly over the top of the soil. Take a board or spade 
and press them level on the earth, and cover to the depth of half an 
inch with sand, leaf-mould, or soil, finely sifted. Give gentle wa- 
terings occasionally with a fine rose. When the plants have made 
a growth of three or four inches, they may be removed, by the aid 
of the.garden-trowel, and placed in pots of good rich earth. Place 
in a shady position, and give gentle waterings. In a few weeks, 
if the season be not toc far advanced, they may be planted out to 
remain. The bloom of the third year will generally decide the 
merits of the plant. Many varieties will bloom the first year, and 
some within the first six months after sowing the seed. 
