138 The Rose Garden. 



he produces ; but let us catch him as soon as we can, and much mischief is prevented. 

 He eats and destroys when young, but when he arrives at maturity he is a perfect 

 gourmand, travelling from shoot to shoot, spreading devastation in his track ; and if 

 he reach the moth state, we may calculate on a numerous progeny the next year. I 

 have found plants remarkably free from these pests when they were closely sought for 

 and destroyed the year before. 



The Aphis or Green-fly may be destroyed by removing the plants to a pit or 

 house and smoking them ; it may be kept away by dipping the ends of the shoots 

 in, or syringing with, tobacco-water, or by laying the shoot in the palm of the hand 

 and brushing the fly off. 



There is a very small canary-coloured fly, which did great mischief among Roses 

 one season. They are generally found on the back, of the leaf, close to the mid-rib, 

 eating the leaf, working from the under-side, and not only disfiguring but injuring 

 the plants. They are remarkably active. By giving the plant a tap, they will rise 

 instantly in the air, fly round, and settle again on the leaves. As they were too 

 nimble to be dealt with as their more sluggish compeers in mischief, I applied sulphur 

 and snuff in equal portions, dusting the mixture on the back of the leaves when wet, 

 and found it prove an excellent remedy. 



A long thin caterpillar, the larva of a saw-fly, sometimes commits great havoc 

 among Roses. They came in such myriads upon a Rose Garden in this county a 

 few years ago that the plants were almost stripped of their leaves before their 

 course could be arrested. Hand-picking was resorted to, by which means they were 

 ultimately got rid of. 



The orange fungus (see page 157), which often attacks Roses out of doors late in 

 Autumn, may visit the Pot-plants ; and should it do so the leaves where it appears 

 should be carefully rubbed between the finger and thumb, using a little sulphur in the ' 

 operation. 



Mildew is sometimes a source of great annoyance. Dusting the leaves with 

 sulphur is the best remedy. Watering with a solution of nitre is also said both to 

 destroy and prevent it. If the situation is airy and sunny there is little to fear on 

 this account. Forced Roses are more subject to it, and when speaking of these it 

 will require a fuller notice. 



We have, then, followed our plants through the first training season. They have 

 been shifted twice, once in Spring, and again in July. In Autumn they will be well 

 established, when a portion may be selected for forcing, and part left for blooming 

 at other periods. 



If to produce large and handsome specimens quickly is the point aimed at, we 

 would advise sacrificing the bloom in part, even the second training season, by 

 pinching out some of the flower-buds as soon as they are formed. A Rose-house 

 with the aid of artificial heat also favours rapid development. 



