August 5. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
293 
shade, the foliage of these two plants is of a brilliant 
greyish blue, with almost a metallic lustre, which gives 
them a most pleasing appearance; but this lustre soon 
disappears if the plants are removed into a strong light, 
or exposed for a few hours to the rays of a bright 
summer’s sun ; they then turn a common green, and if 
continued in this, to them, excessive light, they become 
quite brown, appearing to be scorched. 
The finest colour we ever observed was in the stove 
propagating house at Pine-Apple Place. In this house 
- they were, whilst young, kept densely shaded, and this 
j shade brought out the splendid colour to the highest 
! perfection, creating the greatest admiration in every 
I visitor; indeed, so attractive were they, that very few 
went away without purchasing one if they possessed a 
stove to grow them in. The highest colour was upon 
the arborescent variety, though the dwarf one, in such a 
situation, was rich in colour, but not quite so bright. 
The tree Lycopod grows in a stove to an enormous size; 
we had one lately that was twelve feet high, and thickly 
clothed with branches and foliage down to the edge of 
the pot, but it attained such a size that we were obliged, 
for want of room, to cast it away. 
Some growers of orchids plant dwarf, trailing Lyco- 
pods upon the baskets containing Stanhopeas, and 
other basket-loving epiphytes, and say that they are 
useful as indicators when the orchids require water—in 
that respect acting as hygrometers. There is another 
use to which these flowerless, but beautifully green, 
plants may be applied; they not only act as indicators, 
but as shade-giving plants, sheltering, by their green 
foliage, the young and tender roots from the light. 
T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
CULTURE OF THE ROSE FOR EXHIBITION. 
(Continued from page 259.) 
Raising New Varieties from Seed. —In our last paper 
J on this interesting subject it was mentioned, that the 
: cultivators of the rose are chiefly obliged to the French 
; for raising new varieties, and also that they might be 
j raised from seed equally as well in this country, by 
saving seed from the best formed flowers, with fine 
! foliage, free habit of growth, and abundant bloom, and 
I a few hints were given on hybridizing, so as to improve 
j the breed and produce better varieties. Now, as many 
; of the best hybrid perpetuals will still be in bloom, it is 
; a good time for the delightful employment to be forth- 
i witli proceeded in. Remember what was said about 
| expecting seed only from flowers not perfectly double, 
and look diligently for the parts in the flowers operated 
upon for pollen and stigmas. In order to understand 
what we mean, examine a single rose; in it you will 
find a number of small threads, and a kind of knob on 
| the top of each thread or stamen. These knobs, or 
. anthers, when fully mature, open or burst, and a fine 
■ powder may be perceived inside ; this is the pollen, or 
fertilizing dust: without these appendages, and the 
dust or pollen, there will be no seed or fruit. Then 
: look again, and you will see in the centre of the flower, 
in the midst of the stamens, another thread, bearing a 
different shaped head or knob; this is covered with a 
glutinous matter, and upon this the pollen dust falls and 
fertilizes the seed, giving it life. This organ is equally 
as needful to produce a living and growing seed as the 
pollen dust. All flowers, then, intended to be hybrid¬ 
ized, should have the central filament, with the stigma 
on it, perfect: the pollen might be supplied from other 
, plants. To effectuate a new variety with greater cer¬ 
tainty, the anthers on the flowers intended for improve- 
j ment should be removed entirely, and pollen brought 
f and scattered upon the stigma from some other flower, 
that has some desirable property the one to produce the 
seed may bo deficient in. We will give an instance; ' 
that fine, high-coloured rose, the Qeant des Battailes, is 
not a perfectly-formed flower, it is deficient in the 
centre. Now it is very desirable to keep the beautiful 
rich colour, therefore it is not wisdom to use pollen 
from a paler rose, such for instance as Coup d' Hebe, 
though this is, perhaps, the most double and fullest of 
well-formed petals of any rose we know; no, we must 
look for it on some rich, dark, well-formed, and full- 
petalled variety; Paul Perras, or Old, would answer, 
and both are full, well-formed roses; or one we noted at I 
Chiswick would answer the purpose, it was named Van- 
dieul. This example will at once be understood by any 
rose-grower, and be acted upon; for it is a self-evident 
fact, that to achieve an improvement in one quality, we 
may, if we use improper means, defeat the proposed 
end. Let those of our readers, then, that may try to 
improve the varieties of the rose, take care not to make 
use of such as are widely different in colour. It is true, \ 
striped roses might be obtained, but we consider varie- I 
gation as not a desirable property. Selfs, that is, roses of ' 
one full, clear, and distinct colour, are much more beauti- 1 
ful, always most admired, and, in consequence, the most 
highly valued; let, therefore, a dark rose be fertilized 
by the pollen from another one of nearly the same 
colour. A white rose will, of course, be done so, and 
so should a blush, or, what is called emphatically, a rose- 
colour, and, above all, the yellow varieties. In this last 
colour there is particularly a wide scope for improve¬ 
ment. The best yellow is the Persian briar, but it is 
only a little more than a semi-double rose. It is very 
likely, on that account, to produce seed, but we know of 
no rose of the same colour, or approaching it, that would 
be likely to improve it. Viscomtess des Gazes comes the 
nearest in colour, but it is a different species entirely. 
Then the Old Yellow rose, so difficult to flower, is also 
another distinct species, as is also the Cloth of Gold. 
Yet, as a good full yellow rose is a great desideratum, it 
is desirable to try them all upon this fine truly golden- 
yellow one, the Persian. The Bourbons have hybridised 
with the Chinese varieties; and, reasoning by analogy, 
why should not these yellow varieties, or species ? At 
all events, it is worth the trial. Whether it succeeds or 
not, save seed from the Persian Yellow, even if it is 
set with its own pollen. By high cultivation, and suc¬ 
cessive generations, some of our young readers may 
accomplish that desirable end—the production of a full, 
double, large, and well-formed perfectly yellow rose of 
the Persian breed. 
Our second recommendation is—to save seed from 
such only as bloom early enough to ripen it thoroughly. 
This is a self-evident rule, for unless the seed be ripe it i 
will not grow. Now, the rose fruit, or hip, takes full ' 
three mouths from the opening of the flower to ripen it ; 
but it will ripen in the cold days of October, November, 
or even December, provided no severe frost takes place 
previously. In proof of this, we need only point to our 
hedge-rows, where the scarlet hips of the wild rose 
show their full bright colour during the last months of ; 
the year, supplying food to the feathered tribe through 
the winter season. And here we would remind the 
aspiring raiser of new roses to beware of the birds, and 
protect his choice impregnated Irips from their depre¬ 
dations. The safest way is to gather them as soon as 
they are ripe, or if the birds attack them before they 
are fully ripe, let them be protected with small bags 
made of muslin netting, such as will not prevent them 
perfecting the process of ripening. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
