328 BRECK'S BOOK or FLOWERS. 



probably in other parts of the country ; so much so, that many 

 persons have almost abandoned the cultivation of this most de- 

 sirable of all flowers. A few years since, the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society offered the liberal special premium of 

 $100 for an efficient remedy. An application of diluted whale- 

 oil soap was discovered, by Mr. David Haggerston, to be a com- 

 plete remedy, when seasonably applied, and the premium was 

 awarded to him. We shall insert his communication to the 

 Society, in which he details the mode of preparation and appli- 

 cation. 



The Rose Slug, if not checked in season, destroys the foliage, 

 and the plants look as if they had been scorched by fire. We 

 have known delicate growing roses killed to the ground by 

 these small, but destructive, insects. 



One great objection to the use of whale-oil soap is the disa- 

 greeable odor it gives to the plant, which, if applied at the time 

 the roses are in bloom, spoils them entirely. When the insect 

 is in the fly-state they may be found in great numbers on the 

 under sides of the leaves. The whale-oil soap will destroy 

 them in that state, if it is applied with force, as with a syringe, 

 or garden engine. 



If the application is made in season, and followed up, every 

 two or three days, till the roses begin to open their buds, the 

 slug will either be exterminated, or so far checked as to pre- 

 serve the foliage till the bloom is about over, when a new 

 attack must be made upon the surviving vermin, which by this 

 time have acquired their full size. It takes two or three days 

 to rid the plants of the disagreeable odor, after the application. 

 We give Dr. Harris' description of the insect entire : 



" The Saw-fly of the rose, which, as it does not seem to 

 have been described before, may be called Selandria roses, from 

 its favorite plant, so nearly resembles the slug-worm saw-fly as 

 not to be distinguished therefrom, except by a practised ob- 

 server. It is also very much like Selandria barda, vitis, and 

 pygmcea, but has not the red thorax of these three closely 

 allied species. It is of a deep and shining black color. The 



