Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-26

c lities of the Department of Agricul-
ture at his disposal he saw the way
open to realize his life's ambition.
lie now could obtain, from plant ex-
plorers and by purchase, the rare and
costly species roses, the native bushes
of far corners Of the world, by which
he could introduce new and uncon-
taminated blood into his crosses.
The work of the rose breeder pre-
SCENTS peculiar difficulties. The botan-
list viii make multiple crosses and
obtain at the end a promising variety,
only to find that it will set no seed.
1t represents the end of rose eVolu-
ton 50 far as that line of descent is
concerned. From then on It can be
propagated only by cuttings or
CRAFTS. 1t will disappear from the
world as soon as the hOrticulturalist
steps out of it's life with his pruning
shears. Time after time DR.. Van
Fleet met with this situation. The
only way out was to start all over
again with new set of crosses
Among the ends that he reached was
the Birdie Bye low climber with
an imperfect blossom but which
doomed continuously. 1t was per
fectly hardy and a promising parent
for his family of American roses. but
it refused to set seed. A similar con
dit-on is met with in what is prob
ably the most brilliantly colored of
all climbing roseS--the Paul's Scarlet
Climber. an English variety. 1t
would be the perfect rose if it would
grow more Justify and bloom. recur.
rently. But it represents the ultimate
of rose evolution in that line. 1t can
not be improved because probably 1t
is impossible to obtain seed from it.
DR.. Van Fleet laid the foundation
for his work by gathering at Glenn
Dale a large collection of wild rose
species. These included the 20 or
80 varieties of American wild roses
as we'll as the more promising families
Of hardy bushes from Manchuria. ST.
IBERIA and the Himalaya passes,
brought in by Department of Agri-
culture plant explorers. He made
thousands of crosses between hybrid
teas and hybrid perpetuals and the
American species, nearly all of which
ended in disappointment. He worked
on the theory that these native roses
must have built up through many
centuries an adaptability to American
conditions which would make them
hardy and disease resistant. The
blossoms obtained from the crosses,
however. were poor. The American
natives appear to have been a plebian
race, with none of the ariStoCratic
tendencies of their Asian sisters. He
continued his experiments along this
line to the time of his death. but
there were no notable results. b.
Y. Morrison, now in charge of the
rose breeding work at Glenn Dale,
has mostly given up this field of
crosses. He is convinced that it
never will yield satisfactory results.
DR. Van Fleets long years of labor
with American roses was valuable
in proving that it was not worth
while. His successors do not have
to waste their time on such crosses.
4 x X =
THE second line followed, and with
far more satisfactory results, was
with Siberian, Manchurian and Thibe-
tan species-the multiflora. wichu-
riana bractiata. hugonis and moyesi.
These he crossed and recrossed with
the garden varieties. He planted
thousands of seeds. Rose breeding
requires infinite patience. Some
times the seeds would terminate in
a year. sometimes he waited five
years before the first shoot broke
through the soil. Often, of course,
the seeds would not terminate at all.
The long time required to achieve
results is the reason why the produc-
ton of a new family Of roses is
function of the Government rather
than of the private horticulturalist.
There is no financial reward, except
in the production of new varieties of
hybrid teas for greenhouses and
large estates.
DR.. Van Fleets work was watched
with interest by professional rose
breeders and wealthy amateurs, but
it attracted practically no public no.
tice during his lifetime. He died sud
denly at Miami. Fla, in the Winter
of 1921. Apparently neither of his
detectives had been attained. He left
at Glenn Dale a large mass of diverse
material without any notes to explain
what it was. The bushes were not
ried most of the involved data, includ-
ing complex mathematical equations,
in his head.
The Department of Agriculture set
to work 10 untangle the web of hered-
ity which he had woven and to de-
termine what specimens were really
steps in advance toward the objec-
tives he had set for himself.
From the large assortment of
bushes at Glenn Dale seven already
have been selected and introduced to
the public through the American
Rose Society. Each of these repre-
sents a distinct advance. They are
steps toward the American rose ideal.
Mr. Morrison and his associates have
nearly completed the task of select
ing the best of the Van Fleet roses
and placing them before the public.
None has been put out until subject
ed to rigid tests.
From this point on Mr.. Morrison,
who has produced in the past some
n