Ix PESTS 167 
dangerous insect whose presence cannot be detected 
till the shoot is ruined. Preventive measures 
consist in having all the shoots in bud fairly early— 
in this point and in many others the early man has 
an advantage over his competitors. I only find this 
grub on the latest and strongest shoots, and fancy 
that when once the bud is formed it is safe from this 
pest’s attacks. I have been told, however, by other 
Rosarians that with them it has attacked bud- 
bearing shoots; with me, it is quite common on the 
wild shoots of the standard stocks for budding that 
year—I sometimes find almost every shoot ‘‘stopped”’ 
by it—but decidedly uncommon on the Rose shoots 
close at hand. 
Another boring grub, probably the larva of a 
beetle, does only incidental damage, as it confines 
its operations to old wood where a large shoot has 
been cut off at the pruning, exposing the pith. It 
is most injurious to standard stocks as it hollows 
out the pith at the top of the main stem sometimes 
right down to, or even below, the shoot wherein the 
bud is inserted, thereby leading to the settlement 
of water and consequent decay. It is best, to 
prevent this, to smear the cut-off ends of the 
standard stocks when planted with paint or some 
similar substance which will protect the pith. If, 
at the first pruning of the maiden standard, it is 
required to cut off the top part of the stock down to 
the newly formed Rose-head, this smearing should 
be renewed, as any freshly exposed pith is liable to 
attack. 
Perhaps the best known of all insect pests of the 
Rose is the aphis or green fly (Aphis rose). These 
creatures are formidable by their astonishing powers 
