|RAISING NEW VARIETIES.--A layer, a cutting, a bud, a graft, and a
sucker, are detached portions of an individual plant; and the plant
resulting from them is of precisely the same character with the parent.
But, when the seed germinates, it is not the reproduction of the same
individual, but it is the birth of a new one. The offspring will show a
family likeness; but it is by no means probable, at least in the case of
the rose, that its features will be precisely the same with those of
its parent. Plant the seeds of a rose; as, for example, of the Hybrid
Perpetual, La Reine, and of the resulting seedlings: all will probably
show traces, more or less, of their origin; but the greater part will
be far inferior to the parent. Some will be single; many will be half
double; and, among a large number of seedlings, we shall be fortunate if
we find two or three equal in beauty to La Reine herself. Nor is it at
all likely that even these will be her precise counterparts. They may
possibly be her equals; but they will not exactly resemble her: and thus
we obtain a new and valuable acquisition to the list of roses. Now, if,
instead of singly gathering and sowing the seeds of La Reine, we first
impregnate its flowers with the pollen of a different variety, such
as the Giant of Battles, our chance of a valuable result is increased,
because, if we are fortunate, we combine the desirable qualities of two
sorts. It is not impossible that we may thus produce a rose combining
the vigorous growth and large globular flowers of La Reine with some
portion of the vivid coloring of the Giant of Battles. It is by the
raising of seedlings with or without hybridization that the innumerable
roses that decorate our gardens and fill the catalogues of nursery-men
have been produced. M. Laffay, to whom more than to any other single
cultivator we are indebted for bringing into existence the splendid
family of the Hybrid Perpetual roses, raised in one year more than three
hundred thousand seedlings. Of these, all but a small portion were,
no doubt, pulled up, and thrown away as worthless, after their first
blooming; the rest were allowed to stand for further trial: and if,
finally, a score or two of roses really distinct and valuable were
obtained, the year's culture may have been regarded as a great success.
It requires a long time before the character of a seedling-rose can be
thoroughly ascertained. M. Margottin, another eminent rose-grower, says
that no conscientious cultivator will permit a seedling to pass out of
his hands until lie has given it a six-years' trial.
The raising of roses from seed is an occupation of so much interest,
that few who have fairly entered upon it have ever willingly abandoned
it. Many choice roses have been raised by amateurs; and those who
have the time and means to enter on a large or a small scale upon
this pursuit will find it a source of abundant enjoyment. In the next
chapter, we shall point out the combinations from which the existing
classes of Hybrid roses have sprung; and hereafter, when we come to the
description of these classes, we shall add a few suggestions as to other
combinations likely to produce good results.
Some roses bear seed freely, while others can hardly be induced to bear
it at all. The hybridizer should take note of their peculiarities in
this respect, or he will throw away much labor and patience; for it is
a thankless task to hybridize a rose, which, after all the labor spent
upon it, will not produce a single seed-vessel. Fortunately, many of
the best roses bear seed abundantly; and La Reine, General Jacqueminot,
Jules Margottin, Madame Laffay, and many others as good as these, may
confidently be relied on. It is a good rule, that no seedling-rose is
worth preserving, or at least worth propagating, that is not, in some
one point, superior to or distinct from any other rose existing.
Roses should be hybridized immediately after they open, or they will
become thoroughly fertilized with their own pollen, and the object of
the operation will thus be defeated. The best time of the day is about
ten o'clock in the morning, as soon as the sun has dried the dew from
the centre of the flower. The pollen of the rose whose qualities it
is wished to impart may be applied to the pistils of the maternal or
seed-bearing flower with a camel's-hair pencil; or one rose may be held
over the other, and tapped with the finger till the pollen falls upon
the pistils of the seed-bearer. Roses are uncertain as to the production
of pollen. In some seasons and some situations it is abundant, while in
others it is produced very scantily. The impregnated roses may be
marked by strings or labels tied to their stems. The seed should not be
gathered till the first frost; and, to insure its ripening, the plant
should stand in a warm, sunny exposure. The pods should be laid in the
sun to dry, then broken up, and the seed separated by means of a sieve.
We have found the following mode of sowing a successful one: A frame--a
shallow hot-bed frame answers perfectly--should be prepared by making
within it a bed of loam, old manure, leaf-mould, and sand, at least
eighteen inches deep. These materials should be thoroughly mixed,
and the surface layer for an inch or two in depth sifted through a
moderately coarse sieve, and then levelled and smoothed. The seeds may
be sown broadcast; that is to say, scattered over the surface. They may
be sown thickly, as not a third part will germinate; and, when sown,
they should be pressed firmly into the soil with a board or the back of
a spade. Then the same soil should be sifted over them to the depth of
half an inch, and pressed down very lightly. Some will prefer to sow
them in drills, which should be about six inches apart; the seed in no
case being more than half an inch deep. Now leave the frame open, and
exposed to rain and frost. Just before the heavy snows begin, and when
the whole is hard frozen, cover it with boards and mats, that it may
remain frozen till spring. The object of this is to protect the seeds
from mice, which are exceedingly fond of them. When the mild weather
begins, open the frame, and allow the ground to thaw: keeping, however,
a close watch upon them; for, though these depredators like to do their
work under cover and in darkness, there is still some little danger of
their attacks. As the soil warms, the seeds will begin to come up. Some
of the ever-blooming roses may blossom the first season; but the Hardy
June kinds will not show bloom before the third, or even the fourth
year. If the plants are too crowded, pull up some of them when the
ground is softened after a rain, and plant them in a bed by themselves.
In the autumn, take them all up, and heel them in a mouse-proof frame
for safe keeping through the winter. In the spring, plant them out in
rich soil, a foot apart. They might, indeed, be wintered safely in
the frame where they originally grew: but this is attended with one
disadvantage; for many of the seeds will not germinate till the second
year; and, in removing the plants at that time, these infant seedlings
would be destroyed; whereas, by leaving them undisturbed, a second crop
may be obtained. Care must be taken throughout to keep the frame free
from weeds.
The eminent English rose-grower, Mr. Rivers, recommends a method of
raising seedlings, which we have not tried, but which we have no doubt
is a good one, though not applicable to raising them on a large scale.
We give his directions in his own words:--
"The hips of all the varieties of roses will, in general, be fully ripe
by the beginning of November: they should then be gathered, and kept
entire in a flower-pot filled with dry sand, carefully guarded from
mice. In February, or by the first week in March, they must be broken to
pieces with the fingers, and sown in flower-pots, such as are generally
used for sowing seeds in, called 'seed-pans;' but, for rose-seeds, they
should not be too shallow: nine inches in depth will be enough. These
should be nearly, but not quite, filled with a rich compost of rotten
manure, and sandy loam or peat. The seeds may be covered to the depth of
about half an inch with the same compost. A piece of kiln-wire must then
be placed over the pot, fitting closely at the rim, so as to prevent the
ingress of mice, which are passionately fond of rose-seeds. There must
be space enough between the wire and the mould for the young plants to
come up: half an inch will probably be found enough. The pots of seed
must never be placed under glass, but kept constantly in the open air,
in a full sunny exposure, as the wire will shade the mould, and prevent
its drying. Water should be given occasionally in dry weather. The young
plants will perhaps make their appearance in April or May; but very
often the seed will not vegetate till the second spring. When they have
made their 'rough leaves,' that is, when they have three or four leaves,
exclusive of their seed-leaves, they must be carefully raised with the
point of a narrow priming-knife, potted into small pots, and placed in
the shade: if the weather be very hot and dry, they may be covered with
a hand-glass for a few days. They may remain in those pots a month, and
then be planted out into a rich border: by the end of August, those that
are robust growers will have made shoots long enough to take buds from.
Those that have done so may be cut down, and one or two strong stocks
budded with each: these will, the following summer, make vigorous
shoots; and the summer following, if left unpruned, to a certainty they
will produce flowers. This is the only method to insure seedling roses
flowering the third year: many will do so that are not budded; but very
often the superior varieties are shy bloomers on their own roots, till
age and careful culture give them strength.
"It may be mentioned here, as treatment applicable to all seed-bearing
roses, that, 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 which it is desired to have seedlings
partaking largely of its qualities.
* "It requires some watchfulness to do this 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. 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 need not take place: thus I have
found by removing them from the Luxembourg Moss, and
fertilizing that rose with a dark variety of Rosa Galliea,
that the features of the Moss Rose are totally lost in its
offspring, and they become nearly pure varieties of Rosa
Galliea; but if the anthers of the Moss Rose are left
untouched, and it is fertilized with Rosa Galliea,
interesting hybrids are the result, more or less mossy. This
seems to make superfetation very probable; yet Dr. Lindley,
in 'Theory of Horticulture' p.332, 'thinks it is not very
likely to occur.'"
To exemplify this, we will suppose that a climbing Moss Rose with red or
crimson flowers is wished for. The flowers of the Blush Ayrshire, which
bears 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, seeds 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; and as these hybrids often bear seed freely, by repeating the
process with them, the at present apparent remote chance of getting a
climbing Moss Rose may be brought very near.
"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,
till 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 roses and that of the Scotch is very remarkable, and this
it was which drew my particular attention to the plant in question.
* "It is more than probable, that, if the flowers of this
rose were fertilized with those of the single Moss Hose,
they would produce seed from which some curious hybrid Moss
roses might be expected."
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."
[Illustration: 0097]
Some of the more hardy kinds of climbing roses, as, for example, the
Queen of the Prairies, may be induced to wear borrowed robes, and assume
beauties beyond those with which Nature endowed them. At the proper
season, they may be budded here and there with some of the most hardy
and vigorous of the June and Hybrid Perpetual roses. As these varieties
bloom earlier than the Prairie roses, the period of bloom of the climber
will be greatly protracted by this process, while at the same time it
will be made to bear flowers incomparably finer in form and color than
its own. It will be necessary, however, in our Northern climate, to
protect it by nailing mats over it, since otherwise many of the buds
will be winter-killed; and, as it is expected to yield more than its
natural share of bloom, it should be stimulated with more than the usual
manuring, and pruned more closely than the ordinary climbing roses.
[Illustration: 0098]
We have before spoken of the difficulty of cultivating standard roses,
or roses budded on tall stems, in our climate. It is possible, however,
to produce a kind of standard without a resort to budding. We may choose
some of the most hardy and vigorous of the June roses,--we may find such
especially in the class known as the Hybrid Chinas,--and encourage the
growth of a single, strong, upright stem, removing all other shoots from
the base of the plant as fast as they appear. The stem should be kept
straight by tying it to a stick till it has gained strength enough to
hold itself erect. Thus, in a single season, we shall have, with some
varieties, a stem five or six feet high. Early in spring, prune it down
to the first healthy and plump bud. During the following season,
allow no shoots to develop themselves, except at the top; and, in the
succeeding spring, prune back these top-shoots to two or three eyes.
All of these eyes will, in their turn, develop into shoots; and these,
again, are to be pruned back like the first. Thus, in two or three
seasons, we obtain a thick bushy head at the top of a tall upright stem;
in short, a standard, capable of bearing even a New-England winter.
[Illustration: 0099]
It is always better to prepare beds for roses in the autumn, that they
may have the benefit of a thorough exposure to the winter frost. With
this view, the soil should be thrown up into ridges as roughly as
possible. It will then be thoroughly frozen through, and subjected to
all the changes of temperature during the season. This will not only
tend to destroy worms and noxious insects, but it will separate the
particles of the soil, and leave it light and pliable. Soil thrown into
ridges can also be worked earlier in the spring than that which is left
at its natural level.
The cardinal points of successful rose-culture are a good soil, good
pruning, and good cultivation. By cultivation, we mean a repeated
digging, hoeing, or forking of the earth around the plants, by which the
surface is kept open, and enabled freely to receive the dew, rain, and
air, with its fertilizing gases. Plants so treated will suffer far less
in a drought than if the soil had been left undisturbed; for not only
will it now absorb the dew at night, but it will freely permit the
moisture which always exists at certain depths below the surface to
rise, and benefit the thirsty roots. For a similar reason, the process
of subsoiling, or trenching, by which the earth is loosened and stirred
to a great depth, is exceedingly beneficial to roses, since the lower
portions of the disturbed soil are a magazine of moisture which the
severest drought cannot exhaust.
With newly-planted roses it is well to practise "mulching" with manure;
or, in other words, to place manure on the surface around the roots
of the plants. This keeps the ground moist and open, while every rain
washes down a portion of nutriment to the roots.
[Illustration: 0100]
Roses may be planted in clumps, on the lawn, with far better effect than
when arranged in formal beds. They may be separated according to their
classes, as June roses, Bourbons, Hybrid Perpétuals, Mosses, &c.;
and the effect will be vastly better, if, instead of mingling colors
indiscriminately, each is placed by itself. Thus the pure white of
Madame Plantier will form a rich contrast with the deep crimson of
General Jacqueminot, the vivid rose of Jules Margottin, the clear
flesh-color of Ville de Bruxelles, and the pale rose of Baronne Prévost,
each massed by itself; while all these varied hues are beautifully
relieved by the fresh green of a well-kept lawn with its surrounding
trees and shrubbery.
[Illustration: 0101]
[Illustration: 0103]
[Illustration: 0105]