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.