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 enjoyment16. 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 peculiarities18 in this respect, or he will throw away much labor19 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 fertilized20 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 applied21 to the pistils of the maternal22 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 scantily23. The impregnated roses may be marked by strings24 or labels tied to their stems. The seed should not be gathered till the first frost; and, to insure its ripening25, 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 sieve26.
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 loam27, old manure28, 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 sifted29 through a moderately coarse sieve, and then levelled and smoothed. The seeds may be sown broadcast; that is to say, scattered30 over the surface. They may be sown thickly, as not a third part will germinate3; 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 thaw31: 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 Hardy32 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 softened33 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 hips34 of all the varieties of roses will, in general, be fully35 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 rim36, so as to prevent the ingress of mice, which are passionately37 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 vegetate38 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 robust39 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 preponderate42, the petals43 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 pointed44 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 watchfulness45 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
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
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
fertilizing48 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,
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 crimson50 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 procured51, 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 anticipations52. About four years since, in a pan of seedling Moss roses was one with a most peculiar17 habit, even when very young: this has since proved a hybrid rose, partaking much more of the Scotch53 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 spiny54 and dwarf55 habit of the Scotch Rose: it bears abundance of hips, which are all abortive56. * The difference in the fruit of the Moss and Provence roses and that of the Scotch is very remarkable57, 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."
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 protracted58 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 stimulated59 with more than the usual manuring, and pruned41 more closely than the ordinary climbing roses.
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 erect60. Thus, in a single season, we shall have, with some varieties, a stem five or six feet high. Early in spring, prune40 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.
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 ridges61 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 noxious62 insects, but it will separate the particles of the soil, and leave it light and pliable63. Soil thrown into ridges can also be worked earlier in the spring than that which is left at its natural level.
The cardinal64 points of successful rose-culture are a good soil, good pruning65, and good cultivation66. 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.
Roses may be planted in clumps67, 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, Mosses68, &c.; and the effect will be vastly better, if, instead of mingling69 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 varied70 hues71 are beautifully relieved by the fresh green of a well-kept lawn with its surrounding trees and shrubbery.
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1
graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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germinate
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| v.发芽；发生；发展 | |
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germinates
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| n.（使）发芽( germinate的名词复数 )v.（使）发芽( germinate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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hybrid
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| n.(动，植）杂种，混合物 | |
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7
seedlings
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| n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 ) | |
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8
seedling
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| n.秧苗，树苗 | |
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9
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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pollen
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| n.[植]花粉 | |
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11
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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12
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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14
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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15
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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16
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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17
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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18
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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19
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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20
Fertilized
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| v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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22
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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23
scantily
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| adv.缺乏地；不充足地；吝啬地；狭窄地 | |
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24
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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25
ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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26
sieve
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| n.筛，滤器，漏勺 | |
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27
loam
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| n.沃土 | |
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28
manure
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| n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥 | |
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29
sifted
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| v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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30
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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31
thaw
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| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
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32
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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33
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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34
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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35
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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36
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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37
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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38
vegetate
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| v.无所事事地过活 | |
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39
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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40
prune
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| n.酶干；vt.修剪，砍掉，削减；vi.删除 | |
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41
pruned
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| v.修剪（树木等）( prune的过去式和过去分词 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
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42
preponderate
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| v.数目超过；占优势 | |
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43
petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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44
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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45
watchfulness
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| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
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46
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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48
fertilizing
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| v.施肥( fertilize的现在分词 ) | |
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49
hybrids
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| n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物 | |
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50
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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51
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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52
anticipations
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| 预期( anticipation的名词复数 )； 预测； （信托财产收益的）预支； 预期的事物 | |
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53
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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54
spiny
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| adj.多刺的，刺状的；n.多刺的东西 | |
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55
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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56
abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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62
noxious
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| adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的 | |
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pliable
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| adj.易受影响的；易弯的；柔顺的，易驾驭的 | |
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64
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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65
pruning
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| n.修枝，剪枝，修剪v.修剪（树木等）( prune的现在分词 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
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66
cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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67
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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68
mosses
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| n. 藓类, 苔藓植物 名词moss的复数形式 | |
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69
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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70
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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71
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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