760 



OPEN FLOWER-GARDEN. 



most part, vegetate during the following season. 

 Some of the autumnal varieties will flower the 

 first year, but none of the summer sorts will do 

 so till the second, third, or fourth year. The 

 young plants require shading during hot sun- 

 shine, and a regular supply of water, as they 

 are liable to suffer from an excess of the one or 

 a deficiency of the other. As soon as the seed- 

 lings have formed their second leaves, they are 

 fit for transplanting; their removal, however, 

 must take place with a due amount of care, lest 

 the seeds just germinating be injured by the 

 operation. Seedlings of the Chinese and Bour- 

 bon roses have been known to flower when only 

 five or six weeks old ; but this should be pre- 

 vented rather than encouraged, as it greatly 

 weakens the plants. Upon a large scale, as in 

 nurseries, the seed is sown in the open border, 

 in a sheltered situation, with an eastern exposure; 

 and here they will continue to vegetate through- 

 out the summer and autumn, some appearing so 

 early as April. Amateurs, however, will find 

 rearing them in pots or pans most convenient 

 for their purpose and means. Transplanting 

 any of the seedlings before autumn is to be 

 recommended only as a means of preventing 

 their injuring each other in cases where they 

 have been sown too thick, or where the seed has 

 germinated for the most part during the first 

 season. The middle of October is the proper 

 time for the general transplanting, where they 

 have come up moderately thick ; at which time 

 they should be taken up with care, so that the 

 still dormant seeds be not disturbed, as they will 

 in all probability vegetate early in the following 

 spring. The seedlings should have their roots 

 and tops somewhat shortened, and be trans- 

 planted into a sheltered border in light rich 

 loamy soil in lines, from 9 to 12 inches apart, 

 according to their size. Many of them will 

 begin to show flower during the following sum- 

 mer and autumn, at which time the selection 

 should be made. Those which come single or 

 deficient in colour should be destroyed, retain- 

 ing those only whose colour is clear, outline 

 good, and although not a perfect double flower, 

 yet approaching thereunto ; for its plenitude of 

 petals will increase by culture and another year 

 or two's growth, for as yet its properties may 

 not be fully developed. Those which appear to 

 possess more than ordinary merit may be hasten- 

 ed in their development by being grafted on a 

 free-growing stock to the extent of a year or 

 two sooner than if left to flower in their natural 

 course. The transplanted seedlings should be 

 protected from frost during the first winter, 

 particularly the delicate kinds. A thin coating 

 of tanner's bark or sifted coal-ashes is an excel- 

 lent preservation to their roots, and a few 

 branches of trees stuck thickly amongst them a 

 security to their tops. Some sow in autumn in 

 preference to spring : the former no doubt pro- 

 duces stronger plants, but the seeds are liable to 

 be destroyed by mice, &c, during the long time 

 they remain dormant in the soil, from which 

 danger those sown in autumn are exempt, in conse- 

 quence of their vegetating with greater rapidity. 



The process of rearing roses from seed is 

 comparatively a modern branch of the gardener's 



art in Britain, being almost confined to France ; 

 and hence the opinion arose — which is, by the 

 way, a pretty extensively received one — that the 

 climate of this country was insufficient to ripen 

 the seed to full maturity. From the statements 

 of Mr Paul and others of our first-rate rose- 

 growers, this appears not to be the case, at 

 least to the extent supposed. The Tea-scented 

 and Chinese are almost the only sections that 

 require the protection of glass to bring to 

 perfection their seed ; and this is very much 

 owing to the greater length of time they require 

 to do so than the majority of others. To the 

 amateur it may be interesting to know that the 

 following selection of first-rate roses, out of a 

 more extended list, ripen their seed perfectly 

 in ordinary situations and seasons in Britain : 

 Athelin, Bouquet de Flore, Chenedole, Charles 

 Duval, Celina, Comtesse Duchatel, Ceres, Duke 

 of Devonshire, Du Luxembourg, Gloire de 

 Rosamene, Great Western, General Allard, Har- 

 risonii, Marechal Soult, Madame Laffay, Malvina, 

 Rosa Mundi, Russelliana, William Jesse, &c. 

 There appears to be scarcely any limits to the 

 varieties of roses that may be produced from 

 seed, and so far the amateur need not restrict 

 himself to the crossing of individuals of the 

 same group, nor confine himself to the degree of 

 fulness in the flower, as some which are too 

 full, or double, to open their flowers at all 

 times, ripen their seeds, while many semi-double 

 varieties rarely form a seed-pod. " If," says Mr 

 Paul, "the hybrid Bourbons crossed with the 

 Moss produce perfect seeds, we may presume 

 that the intermixing of the pollen grains of 

 other species will be productive of like results. 

 This, it will be seen, demolishes the idea of the 

 necessity of restricting ourselves to the crossing 

 of individuals of the same group. Not only 

 may we choose the parents from different 

 groups, but from different species." We have 

 thus briefly dwelt on the rearing of roses from 

 seed, as it opens a field of considerable interest 

 to the amateur and private grower. 



A few remarks on the sorts most likely to 

 produce improved varieties by crossing or hybrid- 

 ising. — In the Provence section, Wellington 

 may be fertilised by the pollen of the Crimson 

 moss, the Triomphe d' Abbeville with the 

 Luxembourg moss : if seeds are procured, some 

 fine Crimson and pure Provence varieties may 

 be expected. In the Moss section, the Luxem- 

 bourg moss pollen impregnating the single 

 Crimson moss may produce varieties of great 

 interest. In the French or garden roses, Rosa 

 Gallica section, the following process is recom- 

 mended by Mr Rivers : " To raise self-coloured 

 French roses from seed, they should be planted 

 in a warm dry border, sloping to the south, in an 

 open airy situation. The shade of trees is very 

 pernicious to seed-bearing roses; and in planting 

 roses for the purpose of bearing seed, it must 

 be borne in mind that it will give great facility 

 to their management if the plants are planted 

 in pairs, close to each other : accident will often 

 then do as much as art in fertilising them. Thus 

 the Wood-pigeon rose may be planted with, and 

 fertilised by, the Tuscany, Vesta with Feu bril- 

 liant, Jean Barte with Princess Victoria, Superb 



