THE ROSE GARDEN 55 



DISTANCE APART. Teas are best planted fifteen inches, hybrid 

 teas eighteen inches, hybrid perpetuals three feet, and rugosas or 

 Moss Roses four feet apart. Varieties will differ greatly as to the 

 amount of space needed. 



SUMMER TREATMENT. Keep the soil continually cultivated to re- 

 tain as much moisture as possible; the stirring need not be deep,. other- 

 wise roots are injured. A mulch of lawn clippings is beneficial. Each 

 time a new supply is ready the other will have been dried and worked 

 into the soil. After every rain the soil should be loosened. A good 

 syringing of water every day from the start of the season will go a long 

 way toward keeping the insects off. The time for syringing is morning 

 or evening. At midday it is rather injurious to the foliage. All 

 through the Summer watch for suckers; they usually have 

 more leaflets five to seven, the garden varieties having but 

 three to five. They should not be broken off but cut out down 

 to the roots. 



ROSE INSECTS. The Rose plant louse or aphis is one of the com- 

 monest pests; it appears on the young growths and reproduces with 

 great rapidity, soon covering the plants. The tips of branches 

 are stunted and the buds only produce deformed flowers. The daily 

 syringe advocated elsewhere will do much to lessen the attacks, for the 

 insects will be washed off the plants. Whale oil soap (one pound to ten 

 gallons of water), or some nicotine preparation, will surely kill them if 

 one keeps at them. 



There are several Rose slugs. In each case they are worms which 

 skeletonize the leaves and even attack the plant when the leaves first 

 unfold. Arsenate of lead (one pound arsenate of lead to twenty-five 

 gallons of water) is effective, but even water will check them if applied 

 with force. Hellebore is good dusted on the leaves; it should first be 

 diluted to half its weight with flour or plaster. 



The leaf hoppers can be controlled by spraying with tobacco ex- 

 tract on the under side of the leaves. The Rose leaf roller can be 

 controlled with arsenate of lead. There is also the Rose scale, which 

 can easily be washed from the canes by using a coarse brush and a 

 solution of corrosive sublimate, or on a large scale sprayed with lime 

 sulphur, or the canes burned. 



The Rose beetle is especially prevalent on sandy soils. It is a 

 slender beetle, thickly clothed with hairs, yellow; its legs are long, 

 slender, and pale red in color. It appears in early Summer, feeding on 

 leaves and flowers. A spray with a poison does little, but by some it is 

 thought that they can be poisoned with arsenate of lead if it is mixed 

 with molasses and sprayed on the foliage. Hand picking is really neces- 

 sary. They should be dropped into oil. The white and light colored 



