216 THE ROSE BOOK 



Still other fungoid diseases are occasionally experi- 

 enced, more especially in greenhouse cultivation. No 

 real cure for any of them is known, but whenever 

 their presence is perceived, pick off all the leaves which 

 are badly attacked and spray the whole plant with a 

 fungicide. 



INSECT PESTS 



Insects attack the rose, either as larvae (sometimes 

 called grubs or maggots), or as mature insects. Most 

 damage is done by the larval form, for in that state the 

 pests have a voracious appetite, and they destroy much 

 of the foliage and young growth. 



Aphides. — Perhaps the worst, because they multiply 

 with surprising rapidity, are the Green Flies, or Aphides. 

 The Rose Aphis attacks all young twigs and leaves, and, 

 apart from the unsightly appearance of the branches, 

 does extensive damage by sucking nutritive sap from 

 the bush and by closing the breathing pores of the 

 leaves with its gummy excreta. These plant lice are 

 too well known to require description ; they usually 

 congregate in dense colonies on the green shoots. 



Remedies. — Fumigation by any of the recognised 

 proprietary substances is effective in killing the flies, 

 but repetition is necessary at regular intervals until 

 they are thoroughly cleared away. If the pests attack 

 bushes in the open, and even in the hothouse, spraying 

 with a good insecticide is a satisfactory course to adopt. 

 I know of no better or handier substance for this pur- 

 pose than Abol, which should be used as directed. A 

 teaspoonful each of paraffin oil and soft soap in one 



