STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 215 



bushes to the ground, secure them there with some stakes and cord, 

 or lay some sticks of wood on them and cover over with straw. 



They should not be covered too early in the fall. From the 1st to 

 the 10th of November is the be"st time. One or two hard freezes 

 will net injure them. My experience teaches me that they will 

 safely endure a zero test in the Fall. 



The bushes should be uncovered and straightened up in the 

 spring, from the 1st to the lOtb of April, each bush being tied to 

 a stake or other support driven in the ground. 



Rose bushes have been subjected to a test of temperature as low 

 as 22° above zero, after being raised in tlie spring without injury. 

 The mode of protection for the tender or ever-blooming roses 

 attended with the least trouble is to keep them in flower pots or 

 wooden boxes in the cellar in the winter, putting them in about 

 the 15th of October and taking them out some time in April or 

 the beginning of May. Set the boxes in the ground without 

 removing the plants from them. The rosebush having few or no 

 fibrous roots almost invariably loses its leaves by transplanting, 

 and sometimes its life. The summer care and protection of rose- 

 bushes of all kinds is attended with but little trouble if prompt 

 attention is given them at the proper time. They thrive best in 

 rows or beds. It is a good plan to spade up the ground in the 

 spring between the rows and hoe a few times during the summer 

 to keep out the weeds. 



About the first of June a small insect appears on the leaves of 

 the rose bush so minute at first that it can hardly be seen without 

 the aid of a magnifying glass; but it grows rapidly and multiplies 

 fast. It honeycombs the leaf, and, if appearing in sufficient 

 numbers and left undisturbed, it will soon sap the life of the bush. 

 This insect is known as the rose slug, and is the only real 

 formidable summer enemy of the rose bush. It is a small worm, 

 its natural growth being about one half an inch in length. This 

 insect can be very easily destroyed, and as there is only one crop 

 of them it does not require constant watchfullness*. Many things 

 are recommended for their destruction. It is said fine road dust will 

 destroy them. White Helebore will kill them, but a little Paris 

 Green mixed with water, in the proportion of a tea-spoonful to a 

 ten quart pail of water and applied to the bushes with a whisk 

 or sprinkler will act on the slugs like magic, generally destroying 

 them all with a single application. 



All kinds of roses can be propagated by layering. This is prob- 

 ably the easiest and best method for amateurs who wish to increase 



