Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-08-01
A BLUE ROSE.
why Is Impossible to Produce Onc-,.,
One Yet Able to Gain the prix..

why ~ Is Impossible to Produce One-ro
One Yet Able to Gain the Prize.
"A blue rose?" repeated a florist as
the words fell in inquiry from the Inns
OF San Francisco CuV reporter
.Why' man. there never will be one:
It's a natural imposibility.
"A money prize stands ready to dron
into the hands of the florist Who doos
produce one. 1t has been offered for
many Years by the French Academy.
ana as yet no one has ever appeared to
claim the reward. I think that all this
IS one proof that the blue rose will NOT
be produced, although in these DAVIS Of
scientific research and chemical dis
covery all things are to be regarded as
possessing a possibility of achievment."
nov are the different varieties pre-
duced?. asked the reporter.
In such a manner as to still further
compilcate the production of a blue
rose" was the reply.
Natural and assisted selection has
produced 100 shades of red. from the
lightest pink to the darkest crimson.
There are the Marechal Mel ard q hun
dred or two more varieties of yellow.
Black, even, has been evolved from the
darkes crimson. 1 suppose the rose
whose petals are red on one side and
almost black on the other is a familiar
sight to you. The white rose, which
The Moslems devoutly believe sprane
into being from the great drops of sweat
which fell from the brow of Mahomet
in his ascent into Heaven, once aston.
lshed,an experimenting florist with that
monstrosity known as the green rose.
Its petals are Jagged, curled, selrated,
or Ike a bunch of green rose leaves, or
like a head Of lettuce on q very small
scale.
whenever such a variety appears,
either as a freak of nature or as a result
OF an experiment, it must be seized upon
and helped to remain in its new shape.
otherwise it will hasten to revert to its
original color"
us that the reason why suckers must
always be removed from a rosebush ?"
asked his listener, eager to show a little
Horticultural knowledge.
exactly"
lis that the reason, too, why gar
deners trim a rosebush up high from
the roots, making the plant and its
flowers like abig bouquet?"
ut is" replied the man of rose
knowledge. "You see, it is by assist
ing TIE organs of the plant to per-
form their natural functions that some
varieties ire maintained, while to re-
tard these organs in their development
will produce another result, and to in
terfere with them all, yet another.
Take the last case, for instance, when a
gardener wishes to affect the color or the
size, or even the fragrance of a rose,
he takes the pollen from the blossom of
another variety and places it upon the
absorbent surface Of the pistil. This
crossing of pollen, as it is called, is re-
sponsible for most of the varieties, al
though layering, suckering and graft
ing, both by bud and branch, have
done much to further the production
of roses.
"But I want you to take notice that
all these varieties have come from the
red, the yellow and the white roses.
Red and yellow, what are these col.
ors?"
primary %colors," replied the list
ener.
quite right" responded the florist
with the air of a schoolmaster, and il
you will take the trouble to think q
moment you will understand that since
blue is also one of the primary colors,
to produce O blue rose is utterly out of
the question.
"An artist would laugh at your ignor-
ance if you wore to ask him to take his
tubes Of red and yellow paint and to
produce you q blue tint. Primary
colors cannot be resolved into COM
ponent %colors; they, themselves, are
constituents of a pure white ray of
light. They must exist; they cannot
be made. ......
"Colol is only a part of flower, and,
while there are plenty of blue flowers,
they are not roses, nor related to roses,
and their pollen won't assimilate with
that of a rose; and, if that don't dispose
of the blue rose question, why, I'm
willing to hear what the next man has
to say on the subject" said the florist,
with a tone of conviction.
Did you aver bleach any roses ?"
asked the reporter.
ooh, that's an old trick" laughed his
informant. "Old, whether it's done as
we boys used to do, by holding a rose
in the fumes of a burning match. or
placing it in a sulphuric box. All it
does is to turn the edges of the petals
an ashy white. Some time ago there
was a chemist in this city vino prepared
a chemical mixture which had the
property of preserving a rose whose
stem was placed in it fresh for over
eight days, and if the rose was a white
one, the liquid being absorbed through
the sap channels, streaked the petals
with lines of red or turned them a
delicate pink. I have often put a
white marguerite in a red inkstand, and
in a very few minutes the white petals
are blushing family. It's q pretty
little experiment. Then, by planting a
pink plant in ground imbedded with
charcoal, dark results are obtained, and
iron rust at the roots will give a reddish
tinge. These are experiments full of