178 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



of Cabbages or Lettuces as can well be. Instead of 

 breaking ground all at once, the seeds spring forth, 

 tentatively, one or a few at a time, as their vital 

 force moves them. Full half the seeds mostly lie 

 dormant throughout the first year, and many never 

 grow at all ; the others spring forth at intervals of 

 three or six months between the plants or batches. 



Their irregularity of growth almost matches their 

 varying times of germination. Some come up but 

 to wither and die, as though all their strength had 

 been expended in breaking ground. Others stand 

 still for weeks, months at a stretch, and ultimately 

 die ; but not always, for occasionally these stunted 

 ones grow with unexpected luxuriance, and mani- 

 fest considerable merit. Others again grow away 

 from the first as if they had been used to it ; these 

 extra- vigorous ones, however, mostly reverting into 

 singleness. 



Seedling Roses also differ widely in their age of 

 flowering. Some have been known to bloom in six 

 or nine months ; others have been five years old be- 

 fore they blossomed. A few, however, bloom the first 

 year, more the second, a yet greater number the 

 third, though some are several years in flowering. 



First Flowers. — The early flowers of seed- 

 lings may be relied . on to reveal their colour, but 

 scarcely any other quality. Neither size, form, nor 

 substance of the blooms is formed or fixed for a 

 year or two. It is most necessary to bear this in 

 mind and act upon it, otherwise many of the best 

 seedlings may be sacrificed before their merits are 

 established. The qualities of seedling Roses and 

 most other plants may be fixed sooner, and be more 

 fully and speedily developed, when budded or grafted 

 on other plants than on their own roots, 



G-eneral Treatment of Seedlings.--^In the 



open during the first year, the tiny plantlets, 

 like their grown-up parents, need shelter, ghade, 

 water, and weeding. Rough winds must be broken, 

 and severe frosts tempered, by the shelter of walls 

 and fences, or boughs or bracken placed in, over, 

 or among the Rose§. Shade is also needful from 

 excessive sunshine ; otherwise, its fierce heat often 

 withers up the more delicate seedlings in a few 

 hours. Water should be given early in the morn- 

 ing or late in the evening when needful, to keep the 

 soil fairly moist, as anything like flagging not only 

 p.'-rests growth, but invites the attacks of mildew 

 and red spider, both most injurious and often fatal 

 to seedling Roses. 



Transplanting of Seedling Roses,— To- 

 wards the end of October or early in November, 

 all the seedlings large enough to handle should be 



lifted ; the roots, when long, are very slightly pruned, 

 and the seedlings planted in fresh soil, in rows nine 

 inches or a foot apart, and six from plant to plant. 

 Tread the seedlings in firmly, and shorten the tops 

 slightly when they are long and heavJ^ 



Protect from severe cold as before, and prune the 

 seedlings back to one of their best buds about two 

 months after planting; keep clean, water when 

 needful, and carefully cultivate throughout the 

 summer, and so on for several years, till the whole 

 have bloomed. Many of the seedlings wiU flower 

 the second year, when the best should be selected. 



When planting out the seedlings, any that re- 

 vealed the Tea character and seemed specially tender 

 should be potted up, and grown in a green-house, pit, 

 or frame until they bloom. 



During the second winter, and all subsequent ones 

 until proved, the seedlings should be mulched with 

 manure, and protected as already described. 



After the third or fourth year nearly all the 

 seedlings will have proved themselves, and selection 

 and rejection may proceed with confidence, without 

 fear of ha"sdng discarded any Rose treasures. 



After the removal of the forward est and strongest 

 plants, top-dress the seedling-bed slightly with fine 

 soil or rich compost ; beat down firmly with the back 

 of a spade ; dress with a sprinkling of soot and lime, 

 to give a quietus to slugs and worms, and wait 

 patiently fpr the second and other successive croj)s, 

 which not seldom prove more fruitful alike of j^lants 

 and merit than the first. 



There are other modes of raising seedling Roses, 

 more swift, but certainly not more sure ; and this is 

 within reach of all who have a square yard of gar- 

 den ground and a few Rose -hips or seeds in their 

 possession. 



All this may seem slow and tedious on paper, but 

 in reality it is not so in practice ; and assuredly no 

 means of propagating Roses equals the pleasure of 

 raising them from seeds, which is so fruitful in plea- 

 sant excitement and sustained expectation. Hardly 

 any two seedlings are alike in foliage, habit, prickles, 

 or wood ; and a Rose of surprising excellence, of a 

 new colour or strain, may open at any moment, and 

 establish at one bound the fame and fortune of the 

 raiser. 



Sports. — These may be described as new and 

 short cuts to novelty in Roses, and most other plants. 

 Notwithstanding all that has been written by Dar- 

 win, INIasters, and others, on the origin and j)robable 

 cause of sports, the laws that govern their develop- 

 ment can hardly be said to be understood. Once, 

 however, admit the theory of "pangenesis," the po- 

 tency of germs and their latent powers of dormancy 

 and development, and the possibility and even pro- 



