86 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[March.. 



to believe it is. It would give us great pleasure of European experience applied to American 



to record all the facts derived from American forestry. We are about to enter on an era of 



experience of its use that may be sent to us. great moment in connection with American 



This is particularly the line of study we desire forest planting, and the great want of the times- 



to encourage. We have had entirely too much accordingly is American forest experience.] 



Natural History and Science. 



COMMUNICA Tl ONS 



THE ROSE BUG. 



BY PETER HENDERSON, JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS, 

 NEW JERSEY. 



In the plain, practical and excellent essay of 

 Mr. Bennett on "Rose Growing in Winter," 

 among the "Causes of Failure " which he gives, 

 he fails to make any mention of the rose bug, 

 probably for the reason that he has so far in his 

 operations been exempt from it, or has over- 

 looked it. 



It is a well-known fact that pi'obably not one 

 gardener out of ten, whether florist or private 

 gardener, who attempts to cultivate roses for 

 their flower-beds during the Winter months have 

 complete success ; and I am led to believe from 

 a pretty thorough investigation of the subject, 

 by a correspondence with some of the best 

 growers in six different States, and from what 

 personal observations I have been able to make 

 in a number of places where roses are grown in 

 the vicinity of Xew York, that in a large 

 majority of cases failure is traceable alone to 

 the ravages of this insect. Its operations are so 

 insiduous that it may be sapping the life-blood 

 from your plants year after year, and if you are ! 

 ignorant of its existence, you can hardly be 

 blamed for not knowing what is doing the mis- 

 chief. The perfect insect, as shown by engrav- 

 ing Fig. 1, is of a greyish stone color; it seems ! 

 destitute of wings, at least I have 

 never seen it fly, yet it is rapid in 

 its movements when creeping on 

 the stems or under the leaves of 

 plants. The presence of the in- 

 sect in this stage is not easily 

 descerned, as it almost invariably shuns the light 

 by getting under the leaves. They are usually 



Fisr. 2. 



Ficr. 1. 



found at the highest points of the plants and' 

 usually in pairs, they can often best be noticed 

 by the leaves showing where they have eaten 

 them, but the injury to the leaves is trifling, the 

 great havoc being by the grub, maggot, or 

 larvfe stage of the insect. How long they con-- 

 tinue in the full developed stage we do not know., 

 but observations show that after a time they 

 crawl down the stem and deposit their eggs in 

 the soil in which the plants are growing. When 

 hatched they are of a bluish gray, and begin at 

 once to feed on the roots of the 

 plants, gradually growing larger 

 and changing to almost a clear 

 white, and of the size and shape 

 as shown by Fig. 2. 

 Mr. John May, the gardener in charge of Mr. 

 Slaughter's rose growing establishment at Madi- 

 son, ^N". J., which is probably the largest in the 

 vicinity of New York, has given great attention 

 to the I'ose bug, his roses for four or five years 

 being much injured by it; but by persistent eftbrts- 

 in destroying the perfect insect, has now got 

 entirely clear of it, so that his roses are now per- 

 fect models of health and vigor. He says that he 

 is "convinced that no substance will destroy the 

 insect in the larva? state without at the same 

 time injuring the plant." This has been the ex- 

 perience of all that we have heard of who have 

 tried any such remedies, and the only advice 

 that is given when there is indications that the 

 plant is affected at the roots is to dig it up at 

 once, or if grown in a pot throw it out, for you 

 may just as well hope for health in a patient in- 

 the last stages of pulmonary consumption as to- 

 expect health from a plant with the rose grub 

 feeding on its roots. The symptoms of the grub 

 being at the roots are a partial stagnation of 

 growth, weak pale shoots, and generally barren. 



