268 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



remedy worse than the disease. A safe remedy when the 

 insect has made an attack on the leaves, is to dust pow- 

 dered White Hellebore or Pyrethrum over the leaves in the 

 morning, when the dew is on; or if no dew, first wet the 

 leaves by syringing, and then apply the powder. The 

 species of Rose Slug that eats the entire leaf seems to 

 confine its depredations more to young plants, and later 

 in the season. We have found it quite troublesome in 

 June and July among our young roses, which had been 

 planted out in May and June, and as these were young and 

 tender plants, the Whale-oil Soap remedy could not safely 

 be applied, and it would hardly be practicable to apply the 

 Pyrethrum or the Hellebore; so we have often had acres 

 of young roses covered by myriads of these slugs, before 

 they were observed, and nothing could be done except to 

 shake the plants, and kill the insects when they fell to the 

 ground. In the summer of 1866, we had some nine or ten 

 boys shaking the plants and killing the slugs for upwards 

 of a week, and by this means saved our crop of roses. 

 In 1868 we had a whole army of volunteer exterminators, 

 in the thousands of English Sparrows that had been 

 imported some years previous, and which we yet feed and 

 house with the greatest care during winter. We observed 

 immense flocks of them actively engaged for days in pick- 

 ing up something in our rose beds, and had imagined it 

 to be seeds obtained from the refuse hops, that we had 

 used as a mulching. At times we felt inclined to believe 

 that they would pick the tender leaves of the rose, to use 

 by way of a salad, having always believed them to be 

 strictly " vegetarians," or seed eaters. Finding, however, 

 that we were less troubled with the Rose Sing that season 

 than usual, it occurred to me that perhaps we were in- 

 debted to our noisy, feathered friends for the immunity. 

 To test the matter, a victim was necessary; accordingly 

 a plethoric looking fellow was shot, when, sure enough, 

 his well-stuffed crop revealed seeds, Rose Slugs, and 



