82 COMMERCIAL ROSE CULTURE 



when it was present in its weakest form and could then have 

 been easily overcome. Foliage which is soft, caused by im- 

 proper cultivation, is an easy prey to this disease, while healthy, 

 leathery foliage is comparatively immune. 



The best remedies and preventives against mildew inside 

 are good, strong, healthy plants, united to cleanliness and careful 

 watching as to detail in cultivation. Avoid overwatering in 

 dark weather, syringe carefully and not too often in the Winter 

 time. Keep a little sulphur painted on the pipes all the time 

 when firing, and dust a little dry sulphur on tnc iuli s ^ in Mid- 

 summer when there is no fire. Let this remain on the bushes, 

 with one or two days of hot sun on it, before washing it off. 

 Renew the application as soon as the bushes are dry, if neces- 

 sary. When the first spots of mildew show in a house, the 

 affected leaves should be picked off and burned. If this is 

 persisted in for a few days the disease may be kept from spread- 

 ing, if the sulphur remedy is kept up. 



A muggy atmosphere in a house, induced by too much 

 damping down and too little air, will cause mildew to spread 

 rapidly. When mildew reaches the fruiting stage, the white 

 powder is carried by the wind and spread, or it may be carried 

 on the clothing from one house to another. At this time it 

 may be drowned out by continuous syringings which wash off 

 and beat down the spores, destroying a great many of them 

 before they can get a chance to alight on a favorable place to 

 reproduce themselves. If mildew has been present in the Fall, 

 all the leaves that were affected, which show signs of its pres- 

 ence, should be removed and destroyed, or an outbreak is cer- 

 tain in the Spring. When syringing to destroy mildew, always 

 work to drive it away from (instead of on to) benches that are 

 clean. 



Black spot is a disease confined to the foliage, and mostly 

 troublesome in the Fall and Winter under glass, particularly 

 on American Beauty and Richmond Roses. It appears in the 



