AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 209 



When I commenced gardening, I found three pests, thoroughly domiciled, 

 which I have tried for six years to destroy — first, the green canker-worm, 

 which attacks the flower bud only ; second, the slug, which feeds upon the 

 leaf; and, third, the rose-leaf hopper, which sucks the juices from the ribs 

 of the leaf. The slug may be detected from the spots of rust, and the hop- 

 per from the white, mealy appearance of the leaf. 



As soon as the leaf-buds put forth, and the flower-bud is formed, a 

 brownish fly, with a hump on its shoulders, may be seen hovering around 

 the bushes ; a few days after, the tops of the folded leaves may be noticed 

 fastened down with a web, and, upon removing this and straightening the 

 leaf, there may be discovered a green worm, with a black head, which, 

 upon being dislodged, moves about with great activity, and, falling, spins 

 a web, like a canker-worm. If left undisturbed, it eats into the bud, fas- 

 tens itself into a leaf, and remains in a chr^'salis state until the second 

 growth of the buds, when it appears ready to repeat the same process. I 

 know of no remedy for these but to examine the bushes and dislodge the 

 intruders. I have some mornings found eight or ten on one bush. If the 

 mountain ash buds appear first, the fly seems to prefer these to the rose. 



The slug is only found on the leaves, and I have rarely seen it on any 

 plant but the rosebush. The progenitor is a jet black, glossy fly, which 

 winters in the ground, and is not found any great distance from the plant 

 the slug feeds on. This slug is an ill-looking worm, almost transparent, 

 which seems to cling with leech-like tenacity to the leaf, which it reduces 

 to a skeleton. When first hatched from the egg it is very small, scarcely 

 visible to the naked eye. It is very voracious, and strong and active, and 

 moves in the night. 



Many remedies are proposed to destroy these pests, and the one most in 

 favor is oil soap, a pound to fifteen gallons of water. Some put tobacco 

 stems in this mixture, and syringe the bushes. If, in the commencement, 

 the fly can be destroyed by these applications, there is nothing to fear, but 

 if the egg has been deposited near the leaf stalk, all these seem unavailing. 



The height of their ravages is from the middle to the last of June, and 

 if air-slaked lime be thrown under the bushes, when they are about to 

 fall to the ground, it will destroy them. I have proved it, for upon over 

 thirty rose bushes, I have not seen twenty slugs, and we once had legions 

 of them. Again, I burn every leaf that shows the trace of the insect. I 

 kill all the flies in the spring that I can take unawares, and twice every 

 season I put lime under the bushes, and I have nearly exterminated them. 

 But I work every season, and if these be destroyed another insect will ap- 

 pear ; for I have observed last year and this a new insect, fish-shaped, 

 clinging around the bud, and so firmly attached that it is almost impossible 

 to remove it. The rose leaf hopper is whitish, and agile as a flea, and like 

 the plant-lice seems ever on the increase. 



The best remedy for these is to fill a wide mouthed bottle with Scotch 

 snufi^, tie a bit of muslin over the top and sprinkle the snuS" on the plant, 

 and syringe it off next morning. 

 [Am. Inst.J 14 



