402 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



JuLT 6, 1906. 



dry before the general watering, bo that 

 the whole of the bench may be uniformly 

 moist. 



After the bench is satisfactorily 

 watered the syringe should be applied. 

 Any effort to perform both of these 

 operations at one and the same time, as 

 is frequently attempted by the inexpe- 

 rienced, can result in nothing but dis- 

 aster, as neither can be performed satis- 

 factorily in this manner. 



If black spot makes its appearance, 

 the benches should be gone over daily 

 and all affected- leaves picked off and 

 destroyed. Neglect or carelessness in 

 this matter, especially during dark 

 weather, when the disease spreads most 

 rapidly, will soon result in a lot of dam- 

 age, if it does not entirely ruin the 

 stock. ElBES. 



THE ROSE BEETLE. 



From several sections of the country, 

 but especially from the eastern section 

 of New Jersey, comes a report of the 

 groat and unusual havoc wrought by the 

 myriads of rose beetles brought out in 

 sudden response to the heat wave of 

 the middle of June. The larvae in the 

 meadows appear to do little harm, »but 

 a few days of extreme heat cause their 

 development into the beetle stage, where- 

 upon the march of destruction begins. 

 In a bad season, like the present, un- 

 countable thousands of the beetles 

 swarm upon vegetation, not only denud- 

 ing rose bushes but ravaging gardens, 



lie interest than has yet been possible. 

 The beetles are slow of movement so 

 that their destruction easily is possible, 

 once a community is aroused. 



BUGS ON ROSES. 



My rose bushes are full of buds that 

 do not open. I looked at one of them 

 and I found it full of bugs. The bugs 

 resemble a red ant. Please let me 

 know if you have a remedy for them. 

 The buds rot before they open. W. G. 



I know of no insect that looks like 

 "a red ant" that troubles outdoor roses, 

 which I presume are those in trouble. 

 If you had copiously and strongly 

 syringed your rose beds daily you would 

 not be troubled with red spider, thrips 

 or aphis of any kind. That we have 

 proved. But if you neglect syringing 

 you will be troubled with all these minute 

 enemies. All you can do now is to 

 syringe leaf, bud and flower with some 

 nicotine solution. Cover every particle 

 of the plant possible. A 2-inch flower 

 pot of the nicotine in one and a half 

 gallons of water is about the right 

 strength. It is expensive stuff, unless 

 you consider the result, but most effec- 

 tive against troublesome insects, both 

 outdoors and under glass. Especially 

 valuable is it against the black chrysan- 

 themum aphis. At the strength quoted 

 it will not stain the fairest flower. 



It is easier to give you advice for 

 another season, and that it is to give 



Unique Store of the Kapsalis Floral Co., Milwaukee* 



vineyards and orchards. The beetles 

 have a predilection for white and it is 

 reported as an actuality that in certain 

 localities in Jersey, possibly the same 

 whence came the original big mosquito 

 stories, the interference of the rose 

 beetles was such that outdoor laundry 

 operations had to be suspended; so 

 quickly did they cover and mar white 

 clothing that it was impracticable to ex- 

 pose it to dry or bleach. 



Great as is the damage to flowers and 

 fruits, no practicable way has been 

 found for combating the pest when it 

 appears in large numbers. There seems 

 no way of destroying the eggs or 

 larvae except to prevent their existence 

 by vigilantly destroying the beetles, 

 which requires a greater rousing of pub- 



your rose bushes a syringing with this 

 nicotine as they are breaking into leaf, 

 when every unfolding leaf can be 

 reached, and again once or twice before 

 the flowers open. 



If these roses are under glass the 

 greatest enemy at this time of year is 

 thrips, a creature with abnormal powers 

 of locomotion, but so small that it takes 

 good sight to see them run. They are 

 the bane of the Beauty growers. A 

 .fumigation of red pepper will destroy 

 them. 



It should be impossible to find any 

 gardener who does not know that all 

 insects that live on plants, whether wild 

 or cultivated, are found on the under- 

 side of the leaf. There are, perhaps, 

 two reason for this. The epidermis of 



the leaf on the underside is more soft 

 and tender and easier to puncture than 

 the sunburned, storm-beaten surface of 

 the upper side, but a better reason is 

 that the instinct of self-preservation, 

 strong in all animal nature, has taught 

 them that if they do their sparking and 

 hold their banquets on the sunny side 

 of the leaf a rain-storm may come and 

 wash them off. A heavy shower would 

 be a Johnstown flood to these little 

 creatures, and so they have profited from 

 the experiences of countless floods. And 

 yet there are many so-called gardeners 

 who will not learn that it is the under- 

 side of the foliage that must be at- 

 tacked when syringing. 



There is a curious fact semewhat in 

 relation to this that I have never seen 

 quoted, the work of nature and the evo- 

 lution of man. If you will roll up 

 your shirtsleeve as near your shoulder 

 as you can, you will immediately observe 

 that the hair on your arm from your 

 wrist to the elbow points to the elbow, 

 but from the elbow to the shoulder it 

 points to the ground. This fact, for it's 

 not a theory, I heard explained by a 

 Chicago philosopher, I think it was Mr. 

 Foley. Briefly this curious fact is ac- 

 counted for thus: When primitive man 

 first began to walk upright he found it 

 unpleasant when rain fell on his un- 

 protected head, for he had not yet 

 learned to cover his pate with hat or 

 bonnet (and very disagreeable would it 

 be for heads so poorly adorned with 

 wool as those of Mr. Marquisee, of 

 Syracuse, or W. S.), so when Mr. Nude 

 Savage was caught in a storm he ran 

 for his cave and as he ran he locked 

 his hands over the top of his head, and 

 so the storms of centuries beat the hair 

 or wool downward from the wrist to 

 the elbow, and while in the dim past 

 there was no historian or naturalist to 

 record this phenomenon, nature has re- 

 corded it most indelibly. W. S. 



THE RAMBLER ROSES. 



During the past few Aveeks we have 

 had many opportunities of comparing the 

 dift'erent varieties, both in the London 

 market and at flower shows, says a 

 writer in the Horticultural Advertiser. 

 It is surprising how well they have taken 

 for market work, the only question is — 

 will they be overdone! We are certain- 

 ly getting too many in the market, yet 

 up to the present they have sold fairly 

 well. Some have gone out to those who 

 hawk in the streets, and this in time may 

 materially reduce their value for choicer 

 work. 1 can recall the time when Aimee 

 Vibert was a favorite, but when it be- 

 came a common object in cottage gar- 

 dens, though very beautiful, it lost value ; 

 the same thing is bound to come with 

 Crimson Rambler and others. To keep 

 up their value as pot plants for decora- 

 tions, growers should do them in limited 

 quantities, and grow them well. 



It is rather strange that though the 

 first Crimson Eambler was an English 

 variety, all the best subsequent sorts 

 have come from America. Dorothy Per- 

 kins is a grand variety, but Lady Gay 

 is likely to entirely supersede it. The 

 Farquhar is another of the same type, 

 which, as recently shown by Messrs. W. 

 Paul & Son, Avas grand, the flowers be- 

 ing of better form, and produced equally 

 freely. Debutante, a pale blush, is a 

 promising variety; Philadelphia has been 

 fairly well shown, yet it does not seem 

 quite so free as most, but the flowers 

 are certninlv better than the Crimson 



