300 APPENDIX. 



quassia; — but where the aphis has once taken posses- 

 sion, you shall not see the Rose in its integrity. The 

 injury was done before the aphis came. 



But there is something better than cure — there is 

 prevention. The aphis finds no food when the Rose- 

 tree is in perfect health ; it will not taste the sap which 

 is pure and untainted ; it is a leech which sucks bad 

 blood only. If situation, soil, and supervision be such 

 as I have suggested, nothing but weather of unusual 

 severity will bring aphis or harm to the Rose. Once 

 upon a time a Rosarian asked me "what I did with the 

 green-fly ?" I told him truthfully they never troubled 

 me; and I suppose I spoke too conceitedly; for soon af- 

 terwards they attacked me in force for the first time since 

 I understood the art of Rose-growing. But in that year 

 (1873) the bitterness of May was extraordinary, as the 

 farmer, the fruitist, and the florist know to their cost ; 

 and it was evident, in the dull look of the leaf, that the 

 trees were frost-bitten, and that the usual consequences 

 must come. 



Early in June, the Roses intended for exhibition 

 should be disbudded; that is, aU buds should be re- 

 moved except one or two of the largest and most cen- 

 tral. I believe that the late Mr, Keynes, of Salisbury, 

 was the first, at the suggestion of Mr. Gill, his foreman, 

 to try this experiment, and the superior size of his Roses 

 soon made the practice general. 



Towards the end of the month, and at the beginning 

 of 



