370 The Rose Garden. 



sufficient quantity to cause any material damage. In France, however, and on the continent 

 of Europe it is in places very abundant and occasionally destructive in the highest degree, 

 feeding on the roots underground, and forming for itself burrows into which it retreats 

 after feeding. 



The last order, HEMIPTERA, furnishes vis with one of the most pestilent and annoying of 

 all the visitors to our Roses. We allude to the Aphis or Green Fly (Aphis rosce). The 

 genus Aphis includes a vast number of species, "but that attached to the Rose would seem 

 to be as common as any. The economy of this insect is very curious and interesting. It 

 is generally admitted that the females are both oviparous and viviparous, and their power 

 of increase is so great that it has been distinctly proved that in a single summer the descend- 

 ants of one female Aphis will number several millions. From this fact it will be easily seen 

 how serious their depredations may prove in their consequences. They attack the young 

 shoots, and establishing themselves on the leaves and stem suck the sap, thus absorbing to 

 a great extent the nourishment provided by nature for the leaves, and the shoots, even if 

 sufficiently vigorous to sustain these repeated onslaughts, present a stunted and sickly appear- 

 ance. The Rose Aphis is pale green in colour; the earliest broods, which consist only of 

 females, are wingless and viviparous, but as the season advances the males appear, and 

 specimens of both sexes are found furnished with white filmy wings. At this stage the 

 females are oviparous, for although it has been proved that with some species the so-called 

 eggs are only cocoons containing the Aphis itself, and that therefore these insects may be 

 regarded as viviparous only, still it has not yet been proved that such is the case with all, 

 or with the species now under consideration. By means of their wings they are enabled 

 to migrate and establish fresh colonies, and it is often these flights which are referred to 

 when mention is made of "blight." After depositing the eggs (or pupae, whichever they 

 may be) in the autumn, the parent fly dies, and while the insect is present in small numbers 

 only, the following spring is the time when it may be attacked with the best results. By 

 passing the hand gently over the affected parts numbers of Aphides may be crushed (they 

 are very soft and tender) without any injury to the plant, and a good syringing will remove 

 all traces of their former presence. In the few prefatory remarks of this chapter will be 

 found the most approved method of exterminating this insect when once it has become 

 established but in no case is it of more importance or more productive of good results, 

 to keep the plant in perfect health and vigoiir, and thus enable it to withstand, and even to 

 push through, the trying ordeal to which it is exposed. Aphides have the power of emit- 

 ting a sweet sticky liquid, commonly known as honeydew, which proves very attractive to 

 ants, bees, and wasps. We have in fact been tempted to place the first-named class of 

 insects amongst those injurious to the Rose, for we were centainly witness to the disappear- 

 ance under their ravages of several Rose buds under glass, which were probably saturated 

 with honeydew, and therefore highly palatable to the ants. 



There are also two kinds of scale found occasionally on the bark of Rose shoots. The 

 commonest is white in colour (Kermes rosce), but a brown species is also not uncommon. 

 These insects fasten themselves to the bark, and suck the juice of the plant. When possible, 

 dipping the affected parts in a solution of soft soap is the best remedy; but when this is 

 not possible, applying the liquid plentifully with a brush answers the same end. It reqiiires, 

 however, only very slight attention to keep scale away, and its presence is a sign of great 

 neglect. 



The Cicadas or Froghoppers, so celebrated in poetry, and well known in tropical regions, 

 are but poorly represented in England. Our largest species is but small in comparison 

 with those of foreign climes, but we nevertheless find two kinds attached to the Rose. 

 The first of these (C. spumaria) in the larva state envelopes itself in a mass of white froth 



