154 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



any other. Globular and globular high centred roses are best 

 for exhibition. The wood of Harrison Weir is very strong. The 

 Catherine Bell is thought by Mr. Ellwanger to be not worth grow- 

 ing, but Mr. Spooner considers it one of the best. The flowers 

 of the Hybrid Rugosa are said to measure seven or eight inches 

 across. 



Edward L. Beard said in regard to tDildew on roses that the 

 old maxim that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of 

 cure is nowhere more appropriate, but it is difficult to act upon it. 

 Three or four j'ears ago he saw mention of sulphide of potassium 

 as a remedy' for ruiidew and other fungous diseases, and he had 

 tried it and found it almost a specific. It looks something like 

 molasses candy ; it is dissolved in water and applied with a hand 

 syringe. It is best used as a preventive, before the mildew 

 appears, and almost invariably prevents it. He had used it for 

 three 3-ears successfully. 



Another enemy of the rose is the May beetle— a ravenous 

 fellow which comes out of the ground at about nine o'clock in the 

 evening, and before da^'light drops to the ground and burrows in. 

 It will destroy a rose leaf more rapidly than almost anj' other 

 insect. It is very annoying to find leaves cut half waj- across 

 and each looking like a cookie out of which a child has taken an 

 immense bite. The only remedy is hand picking or a light placed 

 over a tub of water. He had picked up a pint in an evening. 



The rose Her Majesty started with mildew and became the 

 centre of an immense ring. It may have been weakened b}' 

 excessive propagation, and may be better able to resist disease 

 hereafter when it has regained its normal strength. 



William C. Strong asked why sulphide of potassium is more 

 easy to apply than sulphur in solution. 



Mr. Beard thought it more effectual. 



President Walcott said that his experience with sulphide of 

 potassium had not been as successful as Mr. Beard's. He made 

 it by fusing sulphur and potash together, and sacrificed a John- 

 son's pump to it. His early experience was that it almost 

 entirely destroyed mildew, but the sulphuric acid acted on the 

 brass of the pump or syringe. It has no great advantage over a 

 solution of sulphur in quicklime ; there is not so much free sul- 

 phuric acid in solution. The potash has no value except as a 

 solvent. 



