2 1 -£ JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



" People have often tried to provoke hybridisation between 

 two opposite species of plants. The first experiments of this kind 

 were made in Germany in 1820. They obtained in respect of 

 certain plants some remarkable results. As far as the Eose is 

 concerned 1 am ignorant whether any serious and systematic 

 experiments haYe been made. Some individuals haYe tried at 

 times to practise hybridising the Eose by passing lightly OYer the 

 stigma of one plant a small paint-brush loaded with the pollen 

 of another. But our more successful sowers of Eose seed haYe 

 abandoned this method, of which the results appeared somewhat 

 doubtful. Some people contented theinselYes with shaking OYer 

 a rose a bouquet of roses of a different variety. The most 

 certain results haYe always been obtained in following the 

 method of selection, that is to say by sowing the seeds of the 

 most remarkable varieties both in form and colour. Eoses of 

 the first order are after all very rare in a sowing of seed, and 

 their production is a veritable lottery in which chance plays the 

 principal part."' 



From various passages in Monsieur Forney's book it is 

 evident that before writing it he consulted the principal Eose- 

 growers in France, and I have little doubt but that this is a fair 

 account of the method by which our new varieties are produced. 



There is only one Bose-grower, so far as I know, in this 

 country (I do not speak of amateurs) who has steadfastly pur- 

 sued the system of artificial crossing, or hybridising, and great 

 has been his reward. 



The delicate and exquisite flowers which Mr. Henry Bennett 

 has offered to the public under the now well-known name of 

 ,; Pedigree Eoses." haYe found a ready appreciation both here 

 and in America at the hands of the learned in such matters, and 

 haYe not failed also to secure the admiration of the general 

 public. 



The work hitherto done then in this direction is but a step 

 on the threshold of Nature's treasury. Those whose patience 

 and perseverance will sustain them in the determination to cross 

 that threshold and search for the reward which she is only too 

 ready to bestow, will find pleasure and excitement enough in 

 the search, even though their labours may not meet with 

 immediate success. 



Mr. Bennett's Eoses are, I believe, for the most part, derived 



