10 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1881. 



been recommended. I do not feel fully certain of benefit from 

 the application of the latter, having tried it but one year. I use 

 frequently in Summer, a top dressing of Brewers' spent hops 

 strewn broadcast, not digging it in ; it helps to keep down weeds 

 and has many advantages. The Rose in a healthful growing 

 state is a great absorber of water, and the free use of the hose, 

 morning and evening, has been my most reliable assistant in pro- 

 moting their excellence, and in freeing the plants from insects. 

 Every fluttering leaf of the plants seems to rejoice, as the cool 

 water showers down upon them, and the clean fresh foliage 

 greatly enhances the beauty of the blossoms which it surrounds. 

 But insects are ready to invade every domain of horticulture, and 

 are especially destructive to the perfection of the Queen of 

 Flowers ; some of them may be overcome by water, but where the 

 quantity essential for this purpose is not easily accessible, a di- 

 lution of powdered Hellebore, in proportion of a spoonful to 

 two gallons of water, applied with a syringe, (it can also be ap- 

 plied dry by using a sulphur bellows, when the dew is on the 

 leaf), will often be found useful, particularly for the extermina- 

 tion of the slug, a troublesome and damaging insect. But as re- 

 gards the Rose bug or Rose beetle, I am in despair ! The only 

 remedy for this persistent plague that I have found has been the 

 continuous application of the thumb and forefinger, and that 

 with some severity ! 



It may be urged by some that the budded Rose has entailed 

 upon it the disadvantage of the sucker, and its endless care, but 

 actual experience proves this to be very slight. It is presumed 

 that a lover of the Rose is with his pets as often as possible, and 

 these persistent thieves are easily detected and quick!}' destroyed. 

 I cannot agree with those who claim that the maiden bloom is 

 the best eifort with the budded rose, as I am now growing plants 

 on the Manetti stock which have been out eight years, and are 

 producing as fine blooms as ever. The amateur wants results in 

 the shortest time, and therefore must take the budded plant ; if 

 sunk deeply enough it soon becomes fixed on its own roots. 

 Few of us can hope to rival the magnificent blooms of " Monsieur 

 Paul Neron " or the size and beauty of " Horace Vernet " and 

 " Charles Lefebvre," which have secured the prize cups at recent 

 rose exhibitions, but I am sure that the Manetti stock will give 

 us an approximation to these high standards. 



My practice is to heap up the earth about the plant to the 

 depth of six or eight inches in the Autumn, then if they are kill- 

 ed to the ground line, no serious harm is likely to occur to the 

 plants ; I then scatter manui'e about them freely to prevent the 

 ground thawing in the Winter. 



