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RADIANCE & GOLDEN DAWN & OPHELIA

No credit can be taken by man for the gaining of new varieties by sporting. A keen observer will select his buds for propagation from vigorous plants, and he will be quick to notice departures from usual colour of bloom or type of growth. Buds of these variations should be tried on understocks, and, if worth while, plants should be made available to rose-growers.

Much more credit is due to the man who raises roses from seed. There is no more intriguing form of gardening. It in­volves little expense and little effort, but needs patience and some imagination in the conception of a plan of action. There should always be a definite goal rather than haphazard work­ing. A study of the genealogical tree of a variety will give some indication of its probable behaviour as a seed or pollen parent.

Some roses are almost sterile, but others appear very com­monly in pedigrees; some-for example, Soleil d'Or-the first Pernetiana rose, are to be found in the pedigree of almost every modern rose. In addition, one variety may appear many times in the genealogical tree of any rose-it may appear in each of several generations of either or both parents of the variety in question. In this regard, plants differ greatly from animals, for the lifetime of any one animal is limited to a rela­tively small number of years, whereas a variety of plant can be kept young, virile, and reproductive by continuing to pro­duce new plants of it by vegetative means of reproduction- in the case of roses this would be by budding or by planting cuttings.

Crimson Glory was raised from seed gained by fertilizing a seedling of Catherine Kordes with pollen from W. E. Chap­lin. Neither of these parents had very much perfume. Since then Crimson Glory has been very widely used in hybridiza­tion. It produces good pollen and sets seed freely. Crossed with Soeur The'rese, it produced Charlotte Armstrong (Plate 18), and with an unnamed seedling it gave Heart's Desire, while with Southport it has given Ena Harkness (Plate 34), Red En­sign, and William Harvey (Plate 40), and with Poinsettia it has given Fred W. Alesworth, Mardi Gras, Schlosser's Bril­liant and Baden Baden.

When a variety is found with desirable qualities it should be used over and over again as a parent if it will set seed or produce good pollen. The one cross can be repeated each time, or it can be reversed, using each parent for its so far unused sex function, or a new parent rose can be brought into the crossing from time to time. Even if a thousand seedlings are raised and only one is good it must be regarded as an achieve­ment. Hybrids crossed will give progeny varying enormously in characteristics, and those thousand seedlings, all of the one crossing, may include singles, doubles, whites, pinks, reds, yellows, weak growers, strong growers, and all the other possible variations. Mme A. Meilland (Plate 56) is now being used extensively as both a pollen parent and a seed-bearer. It is forming the basis of a new family of roses with its distinctive foliage and strong growth, and amongst its best known progeny we already have Alaska, Cannes Festival, Confidence (Plate 6), Grand'mere Jenny (Plate 37), Marcelle Gret, Minerve, Monte Carlo, Suzon Lotthe" (Plate 57), Symphonie, Tahiti, Royal Welcome, Maorilander, and others.

Some seed parents will be found to reproduce good qualities fairly frequently. Two or three good varieties should be chosen to provide pollen for fertilization of seed on these plants. Usually a definite line of crossing is adopted by each hybridist. With the increased complexity of ancestry of modern roses there has arisen a greater element of luck in the production of new roses. Mendel's law becomes more a consolation in ex­plaining disappointments than a help in achieving success. Any crossing will never give two seedlings alike. Nature never repeats her creations.