78 PIOTORIAL PRACTICAL ROSE GROWING. 
pruning of his Roses, he had done all that was necessary to 
secure them long life and robust health. 
Unhappily, this is not the case. There is a horde of 
voracious enemies to reckon with. 
It is a little hard on the grower to have to wage a constant 
battle against insects and fungi. He is not unnaturally in- 
clined to think that he has a grievance, and that Nature is 
rather unkind to him. Well, we must take her as she is 
because we cannot alter her. If she spared us the orange 
fungus‘and grubs we should be very grateful to her; but she 
does not, and there is an end of it. There is, however, one ~ 
thing to be said—the better we grow our plants the less trouble 
we shall have. Strong Roses, growing vigorously in well- 
trenched, well-manured soil, are never so badly pestered as 
weak bushes, struggling for bare life in poor, hungry ground. 
It may be well to take the worst enemies of Roses one at a 
time and give a little consideration to their mode of attack and 
methods of prevention. 
Rose Slugs. 
The small caterpillars of Eriocampa Rose attack the upper 
skin of the leaves, and cause them to become patchy. Some- 
times the leaves are completely skeletonised. The attack may 
be checked by hand picking, or by spraying with soaparite 
(see page 84), or by dusting with Hellebore powder (see page 84). 
Rose Sawflies. 
The caterpillar of the sawfly, Blennocampa pusilla, is an all 
too familiar enemy. The Rose grower observes the leaves of 
his plants curl, and on examination finds a small caterpillar 
snugly ensconced in the enclosure. If he be made of common 
human clay, nothing satisfies him except crushing the lurking 
enemy with his finger and thumb, and, as a matter of fact, per- 
sistence in this somewhat bloodthirsty method of clearance is 
about the best course which could be pursued. 
Small Ermine Caterpillar. 
This, like the caterpillar of the Lackey moth, is most often 
found on fruit trees, colonising in a web-nest, but it sometimes 
spreads to Roses. The colony should be brushed out of the 
tree before it has time to get into active operations, and 
destroyed. 
Leaf-binding Caterpillars. 
One of the worst of these is the caterpillar of the Geometer 
moth, which binds the leaflets together, and if disturbed makes 
for the earth on the end of a thread. Fourteen stone of 
humanity applied to him directly he gets there has been known 
to have a soothing effect. This pest, and other caterpillars 
