Gardening for Amateurs 



313 



INSECT ENEMIES AND FRIENDS 



The National Rose Society furnish the 

 following list ot insect enemies which are 

 injurious to Roses. I only propose to deal 

 here with a few of the commonest and the 

 most important, as insects generally are 

 treated fully in later pages. The list is as 

 follows : Rose beetle, cockchafer, summer 

 chafer, garden chafer, weevils, rose leaf- 

 cutting bee, leaf-rolling sawfly, rc^ ''lug- 

 worm, rose emphytus, rose shoot-borer 

 sawfly, vapourer moth, pale tussock moth, 

 gold-tail moth, brown-tail moth, buff-tip 

 moth, dagger moth, winter moth, mottled 

 umber moth, tortrix moth or rose maggot, 

 brown rose grub, rose leaf miner, greenfly 

 or rose aphides, scale insects, scurvy rose 

 scale, frog-hopper or cuckoo-spit insect, 

 rose leaf-hopper, thrips, red spider. To 

 these must be added the larvae of the 

 above-named moths. 



Caterpillars and Grubs. No sooner 

 have the young Rose leaves begun to show 

 green in early spring than they are attacked 

 by caterpillars and grubs. There can be no 

 question that hand-picking is the best pro- 

 tection against these pests. All Rose trees 

 and bushes should be searched every day 

 if possible. Whenever any of the foliage 

 looks thick or misshapen an immediate ex- 

 amination should be made. It is generally 

 best to squeeze the bunch of leaves at once 

 firmly (and yet not so severely as to crush 

 them), or the enemy will slip out and escape. 

 The leaves are then carefully opened ; if 

 not badly damaged they may be left. If 

 thifi is not done nip them off at once, other- 

 wise they are noticed over and over again, 

 and are nipped each time for safety. 



The use of arsenate of lead wash on the 

 bushes in spring, and hellebore powder or 

 wash in summer, help to kill grubs, and render 

 the foliage uninviting to the moths for egg- 

 Laying purposes. To make the lead wash 

 mix 1 oz. of arsenate of soda (98 per cent.) 

 and 2J oz. of arsenate of lead (98 per cent.) 

 in a little water, then add soft water to make 

 10 gallons. To make the hellebore wash 

 mix 1 oz. of fresh hellebore powder and 2 oz. 

 of flour in 3 gallons of soft water, and spray 

 the trees and bushes. Preparations of helle- 

 boro are sold for this purpose. 



Greenfly or Aphis. These little green 



and brown insects are commonest and most 

 numerous of all insect pests that attack 

 Rose bushes. Some years, for reasons un- 

 known, we seem to escape their attacks 

 almost entirely, whilst in other years they 

 simply swarm. The favourite lodgment is 

 the tip of a young juicy shoot ; unless checked 

 they will cover some inches of this. It is 

 to the Rose grower's advantage that they 

 are easily seen and easily crushed. The 

 simplest way to deal with them is to take 

 a basin of water, dip the finger and thumb 

 therein, and then gently squeeze the insects 

 on the shoot. This can be done without 

 injuring the shoot, and the insects can be 

 washed off the fingers into the water before 

 proceeding to repeat the process. One 

 squeeze is not sufficient ; one must work 

 right round the shoot and up and down it. 

 It is better to begin low down in the first 

 instance, and to manipulate the fingers so 

 as to catch the insects which fall from the 

 higher parts. Skilfully performed this opera- 

 sion will let few escape, but those that do 

 escape, if they fall to the ground, immediately 

 go to the stem and climb up again. Green- 

 fly can be kept down in this way, but those 

 who dislike the procedure can dip the tips 

 in a wash or can spray the bushes, though 

 this spraying cannot well be performed when 

 the bushes are full of blossom. 



Hand -syringing with plain water is often 

 recommended, but I have never known it 

 really effectual. If the flies are knocked off 

 they are seldom killed, but return to the 

 bushes and often seem worse than ever. 



Paraffin and soap emulsions are generally 

 made too strong, and I have seen far more 

 harm than good follow their use ; not in- 

 frequently the foliage is scorched, and some- 

 times killed. If a paraffin emulsion be used, 

 it should be followed by a syringing the next 

 day with plain water (rain-water for choice) 

 to wash off both the soap and the dead 

 insects. 



Soft soap and quassia make a wash that 

 is both safe and effectual. The proportions 

 are 1 Ib. of the best soft soap to 25 gallons 

 of water and 2$ Ib. of quassia chips. To 

 make a small quantity for an ordinary 

 suburban garden, the proportions are 1 oz. 

 to 2 oz. of soap, 2} gallons of water, and 

 4 oz. of quassia chips. 



