ENEMIES OF THE ROSE 



MANY and varied are the enemies of the Rose, and the 

 Rose lover who hopes to keep his plants healthy and 

 free from insect and fungoid enemies must be wary and 

 vigilant. In the war he wages he will need patience 

 and care, for only by unremitting diligence can a Rose 

 garden of any size be kept free from all the thousand 

 pests which will invade it. Of all the diseases which 

 attack the Rose, perhaps the worst is mildew, and 

 few indeed are the gardens which can boast them- 

 selves to be entirely free from it. It appears on the 

 leaves of the Roses like a small spot of white, spreading 

 from plant to plant with great rapidity. It must be 

 checked at its outset, or all the plants will be infected 

 in a short time, the spores of the fungus causing the 

 disease being carried in the air as well as by birds 

 and insects. The infection starts in the Spring from 

 some patch of cotton-like mildew growing on the young 

 shoots of the Rose, the Winter spores of this spreading 

 to other parts of the tree and to the leaves when they 

 appear. It is obvious then, that in order to prevent the 

 spread of mildew great care must be taken to ensure the 

 cleanliness of all shoots and stems in the Winter and 

 Spring, every trace of white mildew being removed from 

 them. In spite, however, of all care in this matter, it 

 is almost impossible for all the Winter spores to have been 

 destroyed some are certain to have escaped, and these, 

 unless checked, will spread the disease afresh. In order 

 to check this spreading we must have recourse to spray- 

 ing. This operation is in no way curative it does not 



90 



