THE ROSE STAMENS AND PISTIL WHICH PRODUCE THE SEED
The Chief Gardener picked the bloom of a single bramble rose and pulled it apart to show the children all these things.
"Now," he went on, "gardeners often take a rose of one kind and color and shake it gently over a rose of another kind and color, so that the pollen will fall from the anthers of one upon the stigma of the other. In this way the seeds are mixed and it may happen that wonderful new roses come from those seeds. Sometimes, instead of shaking the rose, the gardener carefully takes up the pollen on a tiny soft brush and lays it gently on the stigma of the other rose, all of which has to be done as soon as the bloom is open. Of course, such roses are kept to themselves, and labeled, and the seeds are carefully labeled also."
Davy and Prue were both interested.
"Oh, can I make some new kinds of roses," asked little Prue, greatly excited. "Can I, Mamma?"
"You may try, but I am afraid you will not be very successful where all the roses are out here in the open air. Still, it will do no harm to see what will happen, and you might get something very wonderful."
"I am already trying for a new kind of peach," said Davy.
"And if you get a good one we will call it the 'Early David,'" laughed the Chief Gardener.