Raising Varieties from Seed. No family of roses offers such an interesting field for experiments in raising new varieties from seed as this. First we have the Copper Austrian, from which, although it is one of the oldest roses in our gardens, a double flowering variety has never yet been obtained. This rose is always defective in pollen; and consequently it will not bear seed unless its flowers are fertilised as it will be interesting to retain the traits of the species, it should be planted with and fertilised by the Double Yellow; it will then in warm, dry seasons produce seed, not abundantly; but the amateur must rest satisfied if he can procure even one hip full of perfect seed. The beautiful and brilliant Rosa Harrisonii, however, gives the brightest hopes. This should be planted with the Double Yellow Briar: it will then bear seed abundantly: no rose will perhaps show the effects of fertilising its flowers more plainly than this; and consequently to the amateur it is the pleasing triumph of art over nature. Every flower on my experimental plants, not fertilised, proved abortive; while, on the contrary, all those that were so, produced large black spherical hips full of perfect seed. The Persian Yellow does not seem inclined to bear seed; but it may be crossed with Rosa Harrisonii, and I trust with some good effect. THE DOUBLE YELLOW ROSE. (ROSA SULPHUREA.) Rosier Jaune de Soufre. THE origin of this very old and beautiful rose, like that of the Moss Rose, seems lost in obscurity: it was first introduced to this country by Nicholas Lete, a merchant of London, who brought it from Constantinople towards the end of the sixteenth century; it was reported to have been sent from Syria to that city. The first plants brought to England soon died; and another London merchant, Jean de Franqueville, again introduced it, and took much pains to propagate and distribute it among the principal gardens in England in this he fully succeeded. In the botanical catalogues it is made a species, said to be a native of the Levant, and never to have been seen in a wild state bearing single flowers. It is passing strange, that this double rose should have been always considered a species. Nature has never yet given us a double flowering species to raise single flowering varieties from; but exactly the reverse. We are compelled, therefore, to consider the parent of this rose to be a species bearing single flowers.* : * The wild single state of the Double Yellow Rose was found by Dr. Thomson in the Western Himalaya, in the province of Kishtevar, near Kashmir, at 7,500 feet elevation, and by Griffith As yet we have but two roses in this division; the Double Yellow, or Yellow Provence,' with large globular and very double bright-yellow flowers, and the Pompone Jaune, or Dwarf Double Yellow, both excessively shy of producing fullblown flowers, though they grow in any moderately good soil with great luxuriance, and show an abundance of flower-buds; but some worm i' the bud' generally causes them to fall off prematurely. To remedy this, various situations have been recommended: some have said, plant it against a south wall; others give it a northern aspect, under the drip of some water-trough, as it requires a wet situation. All this is quackery and nonsense. The Yellow Provence Rose is a native of a warm climate, and therefore requires a warm situation, a free and airy exposure, and rich soil; a wall with a south-east or north-west aspect will be found eligible. Give the plants surface manure every autumn, and water with manure water in May; prune with the finger and thumb in summer, as recommended for the Persian Yellow.* in Affghanistan. Though so well known in our gardens for nearly a century, the native place of this fine plant has only been recently discovered: both single and double states of it are cultivated abundantly in Persian gardens, and the single has been also found wild on Mount Sypilus.-DR. HOOKER, in Gardener's Chronicle, January 17, 1857. * M. Godefroy, a French nurseryman, has cultivated it as a pillar rose in a free and open situation with much success; manuring as above and summer pruning are indispensable. At Burleigh, the seat of the Marquis of Exeter, the effect of a situation on this rose is forcibly shown. A very old plant is growing against the southern wall of the mansion, in a confined situation, its roots cramped by a stone pavement; it is weakly, and never shows a flower-bud. In the entrance court is another plant, growing in front of a low parapet wall, in a good loamy soil and free airy exposure; this is in a state of the greatest luxuriance, and blooms in fine perfection nearly every season. Mr. Mackintosh, the gardener, who kindly pointed out these plants to me, thought the latter a distinct and superior variety, as it was brought from France by a French cook, a few years since; but it is certainly nothing but the genuine old Double Yellow Rose. In unfavourable soils it will often flourish and bloom freely, if budded on the Musk Rose, the common China Rose, or some free growing hybrid China Rose; but the following pretty method of culture I beg to suggest :-Bud or graft it on some short stems of the Rosa Manetti; in the autumn, pot some of the strongest plants, and, late in spring, force them with a gentle heat, giving plenty of air. It will now also be very interesting to plant trees of this variety in orchard houses: this seems to me to be the exact climate required by it. By this method the dry and warm climate of Florence and Genoa may, perhaps, be partially imitated; for there it blooms in such profusion, that large quantities of its magnificent flowers are daily sold in the markets during the rose season. The following extract relative to this rose is from the quaint old book, Flora, Ceres, and Pomona, by John Rea, Gent., 1655,' showing that budding and double-budding of roses and trees is no new idea: 'The Double Yellow (rose) is the most unapt of all others to bear kindly and fair flowers, unless it be ordered and looked unto in an especial manner: for whereas all other roses are best natural, this is best inoculated upon another stock; others thrive and bear best in the sun, this in the shade; therefore, the best way that I know to cause this rose to bring forth fair and kindly flowers, is performed after this manner :--first, in the stock of a Francford* Rose, near the ground, put in a bud of the Single Yellow Rose, which will quickly shoot to a good length; then, half a yard higher than the place where the same was budded, put into it a bud of the Double Yellow rose, which growing, the suckers must be kept from the root, and all the buds rubbed off except those of the kind desired, which being grown big enough to bear (which will be in the two years), it must in winter be * This is the Frankfort rose, a variety of Rosa gallica, with very double flowers, one of our oldest garden roses. |