which, in my early attempts, I must confess I have often done, owing to the interminable interlacings of the shoots. The second and third year the same plan was followed, and the trees are now of handsome form, large and healthy, producing an abundance of good flowers. It should be stated that the first year they were taken in hand they were watered once a-week for two months with liquid manure. The sole reason for this was that the soil in which they grew had become impoverished.

We apply the plan of disbudding to Pillar and Weeping Roses as to others, by rubbing out any buds that may appear disadvantageously situated. In the youngest stage of the tree, the buds left to produce flowers and flowering shoots for the subsequent year should stand about six inches apart on the main branches : intermediate buds should be rubbed out. The laterals produced in after stages may also be disbudded; but, masses of flower being the object sought here, the practice should not be too freely resorted to.

A few words on Summer Pruning, or Thinning, seem called for before closing this chapter. If disbudding can be carried out, there is no need of summer thinning; but if it cannot, then the latter practice may be followed to advantage. So soon as the plants have done flowering, look them carefully over, thinning out the weak, unhealthy shoots, and even some of the stout and healthy ones, where they approach each other too nearly each shoot left should stand free and exposed on every side. It is surprising to see how stout and firm the shoots become, and how the leaves increase in size after summer thinning.

The Summer kinds submitted to this treatment usually continue their growth by the elongation of the main shoots, the buds in the axils of the leaves remaining dormant; but with the Autumnals, the buds push forth the entire length of the shoots, and the second flowering is complete. The trees are improved in both cases, for the shoots grown at this period of the year will produce the finest flowers in the subsequent season.

CHAPTER VI.

ON HYBRIDIZING.

GARDENING, especially that branch of it termed Floriculture, is acknowledged to be replete with interesting detail; and if one department is more fascinating than another, it is perhaps that of Hybridizing and Cross-breeding, with the view of raising Seedlings.

By Hybridizing is understood the bringing together of individuals of different species; by Cross-breeding, individuals of the same species; with the view of raising up new beings, differing from, and superior to, those already existing.

How different, how far less interesting to us, would be the forms which compose the Vegetable Kingdom, had the Creator made them incapable of variation! Not that we despise the wild flowers scattered over the earth's surface, decking mountain and meadow, met with in every hedge-row and valley wild: their beauty is cheerfully acknowledged. But Nature's plants are prone to improvement: by cultivation they increase in size; the flowers assume new forms, new tints; the fruits new flavours.

"The earth was made so various, that the mind

Of desultory man, studious of change,
And pleased with novelty, might be indulged."

And what a kind dispensation of Providence is this! how it strengthens the inducements to labour! What a charm it throws around the toilsome duties of a rural life, cheering on the labourer with higher prospects than those of mere pecuniary reward! Compare the present breeds of corn with the wild forms of the cereal plants from which they are descended; or the Pinks, Pansies, Dahlias, and Roses of our gardens, with their types growing naturally in various countries; and, while struck with the contrast, we wonder at the inexhaustible treasures of Nature, and admire the improved races, let us award to man his humble due, remembering that these alterations are not the work of Nature unaided and alone, but are in greater part owing to the untiring perseverance and assiduous care of the plant-cultivator.

The raising of seedling plants is indeed a delightful occupation. The work is varied; there is such a wide field for speculation and experiment; and the pleasing state of expectancy in which the operator is kept as to the results of the turn he gives to the workings of Nature surrounds it with more than ordinary interest.

The improver of plants is, so to speak, moving continually amid ideal scenes;

he works in an enchanted sphere; he is striving to raise up new forms, knowing what he wishes, what he works for, but not what he will obtain. The seeds ripen beneath his care, and he sows them; but as to the issue of events, he remains in ignorance profound, until, by the flowering of his pets, the magic wand of Nature dissolves the spell, and realizes or dissipates his hopes. And, may we be permitted to ask, is it unworthy of the chief actor in these terrestrial scenes to employ his hours of relaxation in striving to diversify and increase the beauty of the natural objects scattered around him, thereby holding up to view the wonders of the Infinite, and administering to the necessities and enjoyments of his fellow-man? As a recreation, who can object to it? Its tendency is useful. It is harmless, healthful, and exhilarating, and calculated to soften down the asperities and ills of life. There is philosophy in striving to improve the simple Pansy, counted as a weed in our corn-fields, as well as in turning the attention towards the amelioration of those more valuable plants which constitute the food and raiment of man.

But it is with the Rose we have to deal at present, and let us turn immediately to the subject.

The improvement of this flower by cultivation has been wrought out chiefly by foreign cultivators. But why seedling Roses should not be raised in England, is a question I could never yet determine. I know it has been said by some, "We do not understand the business;" by others, "Our soil is not suitable;" and, again, "The climate of England will not admit of the seed ripening perfectly." But these are seeming objections-mere obstacles of the imagination, the semblance of which is greater than the reality. For, if our soil is not naturally suitable, we can render it artificially so: if we do not understand the business, surely we can learn. We are not isolated from our fellowlabourers; we cannot be so satisfied with our own doings as to refuse to learn a lesson from them: or, even were it so, the great book of Nature is open to us all, in which " we may read, and read,

And read again, and still find something new:

Something to please, and something to instruct."

To me the difference between the climates of England and France seems the only point worthy of consideration; and that difference, although great, is not of such magnitude as to raise an insuperable barrier against the successful prosecution of the art.

If we compare the climate of London with that of Paris, where the greater part of our modern Roses have been originated, it will be found that rain is less frequent in Paris during Summer and Autumn; there is also a greater intensity and duration of sunlight there, which increases the temperature of the atmosphere and soil, and thus accelerates the period of maturity.

The above is also true as regards the climate of Angers and the south of France, only in a still greater degree; and who would doubt those districts being emi

nently more favourable than Paris for the pursuit? No one. But suppose the Parisian growers had rested contented with these reflections, what position would the Rose now hold in the floral world? And if English cultivators had joined ardently in the pursuit, who can say to what pitch of beauty the Queen of Flowers might have attained?

What country ranks equal with England in the art of Gardening? yet how many are there more favourably circumstanced. This, it may be said, is partly due to the great liberality of its patrons, and to the admirable contrivance of its plant structures. But still the English cultivator has great disadvantages to contend with, especially in raising plants under glass. But obstacles surmounted encourage him to go on he continues to battle with the elements, and his intellectual powers seem to brighten in the contest. He produces Grapes superior to those brought from the Land of the Vine, and Pine Apples infinitely so to those of West-Indian production. These are facts known to every one; and will it yet be maintained that he cannot raise seedling Roses?*

But, it may be said, Hybridizing and Cross-breeding are not the work of the gardener. It requires an uninterrupted course of study to enable any one to carry them out with success; and his multifarious duties render it next to impossible that he should pursue this. There is much truth in this assertion, and the nurseryman may certainly put forward a similar plea. The weight of the burden, then, would seem to rest with the amateur. And it has always appeared to me that his is the proper sphere for the raising of seedlings, and that greater objects are accomplished in this line when pursued as a relaxation than as a profession. If the amateur has had less experience in gardening matters, this seems compensated for by a less divided attention and greater assiduity.

If the Tea-scented and Chinese be the kinds the operator prefers seeding from, it will be necessary to grow them under glass, as they are longer in bringing their seeds to maturity than most other kinds. The majority of seed-bearers, however, need no such protection: they thrive and complete their work perfectly out of doors.

It is now about six years since I took up this branch of culture, and although I have yet reaped no reward I am still sanguine of success. I started a tyro, with

* So was it said, not many years ago, that Standard Roses could not be grown in England— that the climate of France was essential for their development. Thus prejudice, for a time, triumphed over reason, and they were imported from that country for years. At length, one or two individuals in England took up the work, and held up to view superior plants of their own production. The question of the purchaser to the vendor of Standard Roses was, formerly, Are they French? An answer in the affirmative was their passport to favour. The same question is still asked, but the negative is now the recommendation. English cultivators had not grown them, and they suffered themselves to rest long satisfied that they could not. And the reason why so few seedling Roses have been originated in England is doubtless this-nurserymen have found sufficient occupation in multiplying the kinds put into their hands; amateurs in admiring and attending to the varied wants of their favourites.

little knowledge in store, and have had to pay for learning by the way. The first and second years of my practice I gathered the seeds promiscuously during winter, siezing every pod that appeared large and plump, whether ripe or green. The production of these sowings was a motley group; among them some good double Roses, and many very brilliant-coloured semi-double ones; but nothing worth bringing before the public-no star of the first magnitude.

The subsequent year I took one step farther, and kept the seeds of each group separate, to ascertain to what extent the offspring departed from the parent in external characters. This was done for two years; and although but few of the plants raised from these have yet flowered, enough have done so to afford a little insight into the probable results.

According to the statements of M. Boitard, there is scarcely any limit to the variation of Roses produced from seed. He affirms that M. Noisette, a French cultivator, has never sown seeds of the Chinese Roses (R. INDICA) without raising some Scotch Roses (R. SPINOSISSIMA) from them. He states, This fact is not supported by a solitary occurrence, but has been frequently observed by that cultivator, and is further attested by the evidence of M. Laffay, who raises seedlings on an extensive scale, and has this year between 200,000 and 300,000.

It were easy to conceive a mistake occurring in the gathering, storing, or sowing of the seeds; but when the facts have been noticed repeatedly, and by different individuals of known probity and great horticultural attainments, the evidence, we think, must be deemed conclusive.

There are thousands of seedlings here, raised from seed sown last March, which I have been searching through to see if any thing corroborative of the above statement can be brought forward; but I have met with no success. I find the variation of character greater than I had expected; and many of the seedling plants approach nearer to the wild forms than to those from which the seeds were gathered. The offspring of all kinds does not vary in the same degree. The plants raised from seeds of the Chinese are all Chinese or Tea-scented; those from the Bourbons seem Bourbons, Hybrid Bourbons, and Hybrid Chinese; and while the French Roses (R. GALLICA) appear true to their kind, the Perpetuals have given birth t Hybrid Chinese and Hybrids of other Summer Roses, scarcely one having proved an Autumnal bloomer.

Since observing and penning the above I have met with a remark of M. Desprez, the celebrated Rose amateur at Yebles, that he has sown thousands of seeds of Du Roi (Crimson Perpetual), and never obtained a Perpetual Rose. In all, the characters of Rosa Gallica are visible. But we must remember this variety partakes largely of the nature of the Gallica or French Rose.

In examining my seedlings I find a seed of the Moss du Luxembourg has produced a French Rose; a seed of William Jesse (Hybrid Perpetual), a blush Hybrid Chinese; a seed of Mrs. Bosanquet (Chinese), a pink Chinese resembling its parent in every respect save colour; Chénédolé (Hybrid Chinese) has