174 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE CHAP. 
Thrips, well known as a pest on many plants 
under glass, are often very destructive in hot seasons 
on dry soil. These active, tiny, black insects cannot 
eat much, it is true, but as what they do eat is the 
petals of the Roses themselves they often just suffice 
to spoil an otherwise perfect bloom. In many 
places they seem to be hardly known as an out-door 
pest ; and I could scarcely get some friends to believe 
how much all my light-coloured Roses suffered in 
this way in rusty and disfigured petals till the year 
1893, when owing to the drought the nuisance was 
more widely felt. 
I am seriously inclined to think that for Teas, at 
all events in my garden, thrips are the worst of all 
pests. From two good rows of standard Teas in 
fine health and growth I gathered in 1893 but one 
decent bloom, the petals being terribly discoloured 
and even distorted in every other case, and each 
flower swarming with the enemy. 
The remedy for thrips as for red spider is moisture ; 
but unfortunately for Tea Roses the remedy is as 
bad as the disease. It is probably a good plan to 
syringe the plants, and the buds before they actually 
begin to open, with some good insecticide. Syring- 
ing, even with plain water, will undoubtedly keep 
off the thrips, and if continued as long as it is safe 
without injuring the petals from damp, the pest will 
not in most seasons be found in much strength. 
Constant damping of the soil under the blooms 
would probably be useful. 
A species of upholsterer bee (Megachile) lines its 
nest with pieces cut out of the leaves of Rose- 
trees. These pieces are taken so evenly, neatly, and 
cleanly away from the sides of the leaf, generally in 
