140 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



is sometimes, perhaps often, done in the open by bees 

 and other insects, and some means must be taken, by 

 muslin bags or by working only under glass, to prevent 

 their access to the blooms. When the stamens of the 

 Rose to be crossed have been taken away, and the pistil 

 is ready, the pollen is conveyed to it repeatedly for a 

 day or two from the stamens of the other Rose by a 

 small camel's-hair pencil, and this pollen may be stored if 

 necessary in a box in a dry place before the operation, 

 which should be performed with great care on a dry and 

 sunny day. 



Both plants should, of course, always be kept in a 

 thoroughly healthy condition, and as the ripening of 

 the hep or seed pod will take about three months 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 Rose-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 irregularly, 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 requirements 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 



