The San Francisco call., 1899-06-21
BLUE ROSES AT LAST.
But What Is the Good of Them, Asks
an .Unimpressionable Editor.

If we may trust the story forwarded by
our Vienna correspondent to-day a grow
er in the charming valley of KeZanlik has
attained the summit Of Horticultural ambi-
ton. He has produced a blue rose. If in
the Middle Ages. some one had announced
his veritable discovery of the phil
osophers stone, history would furnish us
with a parallel to the futter which the
news of this marvel is likely to send
through the botanical world. At last the
feat which generations of nurserymen
have been patiently laboring at has been
performed. If the rose has been forced to
adopt an azure tint, hardly anything in
the way of transformation need be con-
sidered unattainable. 1t is predicted that
the novel bloom will soon be abundant in
the market. And then? Well. then, we
suppose. we shall have ceased to wonder;
shall, take cerulean petals as a common
place thing, and, perhaps, if we are wise
and frank, confess that we very much
prefer the old-fashioned red or white or
yellow. Cultivation. beyond all contro-
versy, has added immensely to the wealth
of our gardens and greenhouses. Species
that are poor and limited in range have
been developed into IN infinite variety of
exquisite or imposing forms. No one
however obstinately he may be devoted
to simplicity and primitiveness, will ven
ture to deny the debt he owes. not only
to the collector, but to the grower of or
ch1dS. So we may go through the ever
lengthening list of beautiful plants. and at
each stage reflect now much sincere de-
light we should miss if the experts had
been less keen about cross-fertilization
change of soil and water and all the other
devices by which the parent stock has
been converted into multitude of we'll
nigh unrecognizable descendants. But,
while it would be affectation to regret the
spirit of competition and the straining for
mere variation would have resulted in
such additions to our floral wealth, 1t
must be acknowledged also that some of
the products of the experimental florist
have nothing to recommend them except
the extreme difficulty of bringing about
the change. Neither men nor nightin-
gales will ever worship blue rose and
once it become easy to multiply them
as a pink hyacinth. Still, a period of
fashionable triumph may be predicted for
the strange blossom. during which speci-
mems will cause blocks in the moving
crowd to flower shows. and be voted
curious and even pretty by amateurs.
Love of change is one of the fundamental
impulses of the average human being. and
it has played more than the customary
part in determining the mutations of
traordinary craze tor reducing arum
lilies to the dimensions of a crocus; but
when the limits of dwarfng are reached
there may be reaction in favor of grow
ing the plant to the size of a palm tree.
At each stage of metamorphosis there will
be admirers and-what is more to the
purpose of the PROFESSIONALS fair num-
Der of purchasers. Things run through
the whole gamut of change; but nature is
avenged at last. and the last wave of the
hybridiser's wand will restore the object
of his thaumaturgy to the simple original
form. A future generation may yet hail
in some far-away offspring of the blue
rose-the dear familiar feature of the in
digenous brier.-London Standard.