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sion. In all roses the flower is seated on the yonng 
hip, or seed vessel, and every seed vessel, from a rose 
hip to a full ripe peach, is called by botanists a peri¬ 
carp, a word you will easily learn when I tell you 
that the meaning of it is “ round the fruit or seed,” 
and is taken from two Greek words, peri, about, and 
karpos, a fruit. Therefore, an apple is a pericarp, 
and so is a pear, and a peach, and, in eating these, 
we do not eat the real fruit of the tree, but the peri¬ 
carp of the fruit, for the seeds are, in reality, the 
fruit. The rose, then, is attached to the end of the 
pericarp, and we must have them both. In most 
flowers the different parts are arranged in four 
whorls, or rings round the stem as a centre. It is 
so in our single rose, the outside covering or calyx 
is one whorl; then the single row of petals is the se¬ 
cond ; the third whorl comes next, and is composed 
of an indefinite number of stamens, or “gentlemen 
at arms,” as they really are, with powdered heads, in 
the shape of dusty pollen; and the centre whorl is 
composed altogether of pistils, her majesty’s maids 
of honour, all of whom—and they are many—are 
desperately tight laced by the contraction of the 
mouth of the pericarp, through which they issue into 
the presence and very centre of their lords. Here, 
then, we have the pericarp, calyx, petals, stamens, 
and pistils. The two last-named are called the seed 
organs, and the calyx and petals, floral envelopes. 
The stamens in the rose are very numerous, and 
they also are arranged in whorls. In the progress of 
a single to ji double rose, one or more of the whorls 
of stamens are converted into petals, and, according 
to the number of stamens so converted, is the degree 
of doubleness of the flower ; and in a perfectly dou¬ 
ble rose all traces of the stamens have disappeared. 
The beauty of the rose, therefore, is owing to the 
transformation of the male organs into beautiful rose 
petals ; the pistils, or female organs, may or may 
not have retained their original power of fecunda¬ 
tion, and, with the assistance of ripe pollen from 
another flower, will produce a cross offspring, and 
the hand of the cross-breeder might easily effect a 
cross at this stage. 
If tilings would continue in this condition, we 
should have no cause of complaint or disappoint¬ 
ment, for, from my slight acquaintance with the rose 
as a breeder, I am led to believe that it is from flow¬ 
ers of this stage of development that we are to look 
for success in crossing them. It is not to be sup¬ 
posed, however, that every double rose, even with 
the female organs in perfect development, will pro¬ 
duce seeds, although, from not having any experience 
in crossing them, I cannot speak positively to the 
fact; I merely reason from analogy with other fami¬ 
lies with which I am well acquainted, for I often 
find that plants, belonging to families that have been 
already extensively crossed, like the rose, with all their 
organs of reproduction appai'ently in a perfect state, 
are yet incapable of breeding, or, in other words, are 
absolutely barren. The cause of such barrenness is 
a total mystery to the most learned, for I have had 
conversations and correspondence with many emi¬ 
nent physiologists on tins very point, and with 
M. Decandole, the present professor of botany at 
Geneva, among the rest. When he was in England, 
in 1837 or 38, 1 forget which, he called where I then 
resided, and he conversed freely on this subject, and 
proposed a correspondence, but, though he speaks 
English fluently enough, he would only write his 
letters in the French language, and I was obliged to 
relinquish the pleasant task, as I do not understand 
the French language. He told me, however, that 
-T UNE 
his father—now no more—whose shoes he is now 
fast filling, and who was the first authority in all 
matters relating to botany and physiology, could 
never fathom the mysteries of cross-breeding so far 
as to have been able to lay down safe rifles for its 
application. Therefore, as I have said already, we 
must work on step by step. No doubt all our great 
nurserymen could, from theft extensive experience, 
tell of many fine roses that are sure breeders, and of 
others, equally good, from which no seeds can be ob¬ 
tained. A list of such plants would be a welcome 
article for any of our gardening periodicals, and to 
none more so than to The Cottage Gardener. In 
the absence of such a guide, all that i can offer at 
present is to point out the necessary conditions in 
the stamens and pistils of a rose to render them fit 
subjects for experiments. 
1 have said that it is not necessary that the stamens 
should be present, it is indeed safer that they should 
not be so, except in the form of petals, thus render 
ing the flower perfectly double, and therefore having 
no pollen of its own to interfere with the experiment. 
But it is essential to success that the pistils be in a 
perfect state, which has not been the case in every 
instance in those roses I have examined. To be in 
a proper state for the pollen, they shoidd be perfectly 
smooth and fleshy, with their tops ( stigmas) moist 
with a clammy fluid, which is theft element of fecun¬ 
dation. The rose which is made choice of for the 
other parent cannot be a perfectly double one, as in 
that case it would, as we have explained, be without 
stamens, and could yield no pollen. But the more 
double it is the better, provided it has a few perfect 
anthers charged with pollen, which is easily loiown 
by theft powdery appearance. The pollen of the rose 
is of a lighter colour than is generally the case with 
other flowers, and is ripe when it will fall from the 
anthers in the form of dust on the least touch. The 
best and easiest way of applying the pollen to the 
pistils is to cut away the petals, leaving the stamens 
attached to the top of the pericarp, (that top is called 
the torus.) Now, with the pericarp between the 
fingers, draw the stamen gently three or four times 
across the clammy stigmas of the pistils, and, if the 
pollen is quite ripe, it will adhere to the moist 
stigmas, and the work is finished. 
After a while the pollen grains will imbibe so 
much of this fluid as will cause them to burst, and 
discharge their contents; then a chemical action is 
supposed to take place; at any rate, the mixed juice 
circulates through the pistil, the bottom of which, in 
the rose, is attached immediately to the ovary, which 
incloses the embryo seed. Now, what most sur¬ 
prised me was, that these ovaries, which, in reality, 
are the coverings of the future seeds, were placed 
inside the hip, or pericarp, in a widely different man¬ 
ner from the generality of such cases; but this is a 
question of no moment to the cross-breeder. There 
are various conjectures as to the mode by which the 
pollenised juice—to coin a new word—finds its way 
to the ovule or embryo seed, and, in my hurry the 
other day, I said that this compound juice circulates 
in the same way as the ordinary sap, but the truth 
is, the whole process after the union of the pollen is 
a perfect mystery. It is true that some have asserted 
that the contents of the pollen is formed into tubes 
of extreme fineness, and in that shape slides down 
through the style (stem of the pistil), and so, by 
means of the seed cord, or placenta, passes imme¬ 
diately into the ovule. But when we reflect that in 
pendulous flowers, like those of a fuchsia, for instance, 
these same tubes would have to slide perpendicularly 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
