f^^^ 



SEEK RELIEF FROM 



NEW ROSE SCOURGE 



From a bothersome pest on strawberry plants, a little beetle has be- 

 come in, the last four years a scourge the course of which is dreaded by the 

 growers who have suffered its ravages. Unless effective means of checking 

 it are discovered, it may become an even greater menace. 



■ lOUB years ago a new kind 



Fof insect appeared in sev- 

 eral of the greenhouses in 

 Bucks and Montgomery 

 counties, in the state of 

 ^ Pennsylvania. When first 

 f. ^g^ A noticed it was in the form 

 rhl'yS of a small beetle that fed 

 II on the tender young shoots 

 of the roses. At first no 

 special attention was given to the beetle. 

 The fumigations with concentrated ex- 

 tract of tobacco were increased and 

 syrifiging with cold water under pres- 

 sure became more frequent; that was all. 

 It was not until the next summer, when 

 the beetles reappeared in greater lum- 

 bers, that the rose growers became thor- 

 oughly alarmed. Then the 

 fumigations and syringings 

 were increased. Other meas- 

 ures were tried without 

 avail. Beds, even whole 

 houses, of fine roses were 

 ruined by the scourge. 



The beetle appeared to 

 climb from the bed up the 

 plant to a tender young 

 shoot. There it cut the bark 

 and sucked the sap. Then 

 the shoot withered and died. 

 Like all such pests, the 

 beetles multiplied with ex- 

 traordinary rapidity. Their 

 number was legion. The 

 growers did their best, but 

 they were facing defeat. 



to be no results at all. James W. Hea- 

 cock put some rose beetles in a bottle 

 containing arsenate of lead and water 

 and kept them on his desk. He insists 

 that they only died of old age. 



More Beetles for Battle. 



Theoretically, spraying the tender 

 young shoots with arsenate of lead was 

 all right. The beetles were^ard-shelled 

 and could only be destroyed by poison- 

 ing their food. Practically there were 

 too many beetles. Many might be de- 

 stroyed; there were many more to take 

 their places. Hand-picking was re- 

 sorted to, steady, persistent hand-pick- 

 ing. It was useless. There was not the 

 slightest evidence of diminution in the 



Ask State's Aid. 



GROWERS ALARMED 



At this stage of the bat- 

 tle the state authorities 

 were appealed to for aid. 

 Parker Thayer Barnes 

 stated that the scourge was 

 the strawberry beetle, Paria 

 canella, and that it could 

 be wiped out by spraying 

 with a strong solution of 

 arsenate of lead in water. 

 It has hitherto attacked 

 strawberries outdoors, but 

 has now transferred its at- 

 tention to roses indoors. It 

 is not especially dangerous outdoors, be- 

 cause its season is short. It is ex- 

 tremely dangerous indoors, because its 

 season is virtually the entire year and 

 because it is exceedingly difficult to 

 exterminate. 



To a man the growers tried the arsen- 

 ate of lead method, with results that 

 varied all the way from moderate suc- 

 cess to total failure. Where the beetle 

 was not bad, the solution full strength 

 and the spraying frequent, there did 

 seem to be results. Where conditions 

 were not so favorable there appeared 



So severe have the depredations 

 of the strawberry or rose beetle be- 

 come that a leading grower states: 

 "This is a most serious pest and is 

 getting beyond control. Indeed, no 

 control for it has as yet been found. 

 Rose growers the country over are 

 feeling great concern over what its 

 ravages may be a few years hence 

 if nothing can be found to kill it.*' 



that some of the growers were pretty 

 badly used up. Others had suffered a 

 little. Some had escaped entirely. It 

 was those growers who are considered 

 the most progressive who had suffered 

 most, those who had brought new va- 

 rieties from elsewhere and with these 

 new varieties had unwittingly brought 

 the accursed beetle. It was supposed to 

 be in the form of larvsB in the balls of 

 earth surrounding the plant. The beetle 

 seemed to prefer certain varieties of 

 roses to others, some varieties being 

 badly cjbewed while others near-by 

 were only slightly attacked. The fancy 

 varieties seemed to suffer most. 



It was at thisi stage of the struggle 

 that the growers were Reinforced un- 

 expectedly by the Uflited 

 States government coming 

 to their aid. The Secretary 

 of Agriculture sent a repre- 

 sentative, Ernest L. Cham- 

 bers, to Doylestown, to aid 

 the rose growers in the af- 

 fected counties. Mr. Cham- 

 bers did not profess to un- 

 derstand how to destroy the 

 beetle. He knew something 

 about its habits; he learned 

 more by study. He tried 

 every remedy the growers 

 suggested, carefully watch- 

 ing the result, and he 

 evolved certain theories as 

 the result of his observa- 

 tions. 



Theories. 

 These theories 



numbers of the attacking army. The 

 Florex Gardens employed several chil- 

 dren to pick beetles and put them in 

 bottles. The night man counted them. 

 An amazing number were caught, de- 

 stroyed and paid for without any ap- 

 parent diminution in the attacking 

 force. What did seem to matter most 

 was the season. The beetles were worst 

 in summer and gradually disappeared 

 with the advance of fall. 



Thus the battle was waged with vary- 

 ing success until the close of last year. 

 A careful survey of the field showed 



are that 

 as the rose beetle larvsB 

 hatch in the soil during the 

 spring, tiey may be de- 

 stroyed by chemically treat- 

 ing the soil at that season; 

 that the hard-shelled beetles 

 themselves may be best 

 reached by the use of hydro- 

 cyanic acid gas in the 

 houses of roses that are to 

 be carried over, the gas to 

 be liberated just after the 

 plants are cut back, to avoid 

 injuring them. It is essential that the 

 house be perfectly clean at this time to 

 insure success. Another remedy that is 

 of special value now came out in a 

 rather funny way. Mr. Chambers went 

 to Yardley to see the greenhouse of 

 Malcolm Franklin. There he was met 

 by the manager, James J. Curran. Mr. 

 Curran teasingly told Mr. Chambers 

 that he knew a remedy for the beetle, 

 but would not tell it. Mr. Chambers 

 indignantly told Mr. Curran that if he 

 knew something that would benefit his 

 fellow florists and would not tell it, he 



^ 



