“When it is desirable the qualities of a favorite rose should preponderate, the petals of the flower to be fertilized must be opened gently with the fingers. A flower that will expand in the morning should be opened the afternoon or evening previous, and the anthers all removed with a pair of pointed scissors. The following morning, when this flower is fully expanded, it must be fertilized with a flower of some variety of whose qualities it is desired to have seedlings largely partake. It requires some watchfulness to open the petals at the proper time; if too soon, the petals will be injured in forcing them open, and in hot weather, in July, if delayed only an hour or two, the anthers will be found to have shed their pollen. To ascertain precisely when the pollen is in a fit state for transmission, a few of the anthers should be gently pressed with the finger and thumb; if the yellow dust adheres to them, the operation may be performed; it requires close examination and some practice to know when the flower to be operated upon is in a fit state to receive the pollen; as a general rule, the flowers ought to be in the same state of expansion, or, in other words, about the same age.
“To exemplify the process, we will suppose that a climbing Moss Rose, with red or crimson flowers, is wished for: the flowers of the Blush Ayrshire, which bear seed abundantly, may be selected, and before expansion, the anthers removed; the following morning, or as soon after the operation as these flowers open, they should be fertilized with those of the Luxembourg Moss; if the operation succeed, seed will be procured, from which, the probability is, that a climbing rose will be produced with the habit and flowers of the Moss Rose, or at least an approximation to them. I mention the union of the Moss and Ayrshire Roses by way of illustration, and merely to point out to the amateur how extensive and how interesting a field of operations is open in this way. I ought to give a fact that has occurred in my own experience, which will tell better with the sceptical than a thousand anticipations. About four years since, in a pan of seedling Moss Roses, was one with a most peculiar habit, even when very young; this has since proved a hybrid rose, partaking much more of the Scotch Rose than of any other, and until the plant arrived at full growth, I thought it a Scotch Rose, the seed of which had by accident been mixed with that of the Moss Rose, although I had taken extreme care. To my surprise it has since proved a perfect hybrid, having the sepals and the fruit of the Provence Rose, with the spiny and dwarf habit of the Scotch Rose; it bears abundance of hips, which are all abortive. The difference in the fruit of the Moss and Provence Rose, and that of the Scotch, is very remarkable; and this it was which drew my particular attention to the plant in question. It was raised from the same seed, and in the same seed-pan, as the single crimson Moss Rose. As this strange hybrid came from a Moss Rose accidentally fertilized, we may expect that art will do much more for us.
“It is only in cases where it is wished for the qualities of a particular rose to predominate, that the removal of the anthers of the rose to be fertilized is necessary: thus, if a yellow climbing rose is desired by the union of the Yellow Brier with the Ayrshire, every anther should be removed from the latter, so that it is fertilized solely with the pollen of the former. In some cases, where it is desirable to have the qualities of both parents in an equal degree, the removal of the anthers must not take place: thus I have found, by removing them from the Luxembourg Moss, and fertilizing that rose with a dark variety of Rosa Gallica, that the features of the Moss Rose are totally lost in its offspring, and they become nearly pure varieties of the former; but if the anthers of the Moss Rose are left untouched, and it is fertilized with Rosa Gallica, interesting hybrids are the result, more or less mossy.”
There is no branch of rose culture possessing more interest for the amateur, with whose leisure its prosecution is compatible. The constant care and attention required, in order to ensure success, place it in a great measure beyond the limits of a large commercial establishment. The great desideratum at this time is a double, yellow, climbing rose. If the Harrison Rose were fertilized with the Queen of the Prairies, or the latter with the Solfaterre or Chromatella, a rose might possibly be obtained with the rich yellow of the Harrison Rose, and the robust habit and beautifully formed flower of the Queen of the Prairies. While, however, we recommend this mode of artificial impregnation, we would by no means discourage the sowing of seeds whose flowers have not thus been fecundated. The seed of the Harrison Rose, or of any of the yellow roses, may, if perseveringly saved from generation to generation, produce a yellow climbing rose. In fact, we are inclined to think that among all the reputed hybrids, a much less number than is supposed owe their origin to a crossed fecundation. It is a fact generally admitted by botanists, that all varieties of plants will generally produce from their seed plants very dissimilar, preserving, perhaps, some peculiarities of their parents, but differing in many essential particulars.
It will thus be perceived that, in the simple sowing of seeds, where there is a dislike to the trouble of artificial impregnation, there is a wide field for experiment and for successful result. But to those who have the leisure and the patience to transfer from one plant to another its fertilizing matter, it forms a pleasant amusement, with rather a greater probability of satisfactory results. In either case, every amateur of roses should have his seed-plat; and if, out of a thousand, or even five thousand roses, he should obtain one good variety, and differing from any other known, he will be conferring an important service upon rose-culture, and will encourage others to pursue the same course, until we shall be in no wise behind either France or England in this interesting branch of horticulture.
[CHAPTER IX.]
DISEASES AND INSECTS ATTACKING THE ROSE.
| Brave Rose, alas, whose art thou? In thy chair |
| Where thou didst lately so triumph and shine |
| A worm doth sit, whose many feet and hair |
| Are the more foul the more thou art divine. |
| This, this hath done it; this did bite the root |
| And bottom of the leaves, which, when the wind |
| Did once perceive, it blew them under foot, |
| Where rude, unhallow’d steps do crush and grind |
| Their beauteous glories. Only shreds of thee, |
| And those all bitten, in thy chair I see. |
| Herbert. |