January 15, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



3i 



been found in the city of Newark, and their occurrence lias 

 been deertied accidental, owing 1 to the small number; but they 

 increased steadily, and for the three years last past they have 

 been numerous around the electric lights along Broad Street, 

 especially near the parks containing many Elms. This occur- 

 rence pointed to the Elm as their probable food-plant, and some 



^gp 





,<*-/ 



a, Male 

 \ Lew. 



Fig. 6. — Zeuzera pyrina. 

 moth; !>, Female moth; c. Caterpillar, dorsal view; d, Caterpillar, lateral 



of the Newark collectors tried to find die early stages, but 

 sought them in the trunk and roots without success. Finally 

 Mr. Angelmann, examining the branches of a felled tree, found 

 the lar,va of the borer in considerable numbers in the smaller 

 twigs, and in burrows in larger branches found also the pupa. 

 The moth, it seems, deposits its eggs in the fork of a small 

 branch, and the young larva burrows downward toward the 

 larger branches, tunneling generally through the centre, and 

 usually killing the branch. In color the larva is whitish, as is 

 usual with borers, with black dots, each bearing a single hair, 

 arranged as shown in the figure, which also gives very well 

 the general appearance of the caterpillar. I understand that 

 the terminal branches of many of the trees in Newark have 

 been noticed to be dying, but the cause has not been hereto- 

 fore discovered. There is little doubt that this insect is re- 

 sponsible for the injury, and that it has gained a firm foothold. 

 That it is spreading is indicated by the fact that during the sea- 

 son of 1889 it made its appearance at Arlington, a suburb of 

 Newark. The insects are attracted by light, and many hun- 

 dreds of them are drawn to the electric lights and destroyed; 

 these are mostly males, however. There is no reason- 

 able doubt that this destruction of the moths has done much 

 to prevent a more rapid spread, and it is to be feared that once 

 out of the influence of the electric lights their march will be 

 rapid. 



As to remedies, I have no suggestions to make at present, 

 borers are hard to deal with at best, and a borer that attacks 

 branches from sixty to seventy-five feet above ground is an 

 especially unsatisfactory creature to deal with. Heroic rem- 

 edies would be best here, and I would recommend free cut- 

 ting and burning of affected branches as the best means of 

 checking their increase and spread. 



Rutgers College. John B. Smith. 



Cultural Department. 

 • Rose Notes. 



'"THE closest attention is needed in the Rose-houses during 

 -*- midwinter to ensure success, and all extremes should 

 be avoided, not only in moisture, but in heat and ven- 

 tilation ; in fact, but yttle of the latter will be necessary until 

 the sun gains power and the days are perceptibly lengthened. 



In many instances the crop will have been cut to a greater 

 or less extent during the holiday season, and the next care on 

 the mind of the grower is to make his Roses break well again 

 for the following crop. With this in view, a little extra stim- 

 ulation in the form of liquid manure may be given, or else a 

 light sprinkling of hen manure may be applied to the surface 

 of the beds. The latter should, however, be used with cau- 

 tion, as its action is somewhat similar to that of guano. 



In the matter of watering, much judgment must be used, 

 as an open, porous soil will allow of much more water with- 

 out injury to the plants than can be safely given to those 

 planted in heavy, clayey soil, which are, upon the whole, rather 

 difficult to keep in the proper condition during bad weather. 

 In either case it will be found that some portions of the beds 

 will dry out much faster than others, and therefore will need 

 much more frequent waterings. During the sharper weather 

 to be expected in January, the firing will naturally be more 

 brisk, and there is in most greenhouses an extra warm and 

 dry corner, especially in those where the boiler is built into 

 the end of the house, and it is in just such places that red 

 spiders are likely to flourish if undisturbed. 



To avoid the spread of these pests, special care should be 

 given in syringing these dry corners, so that the spider cannot 

 secure a foothold. 



Malformed and knotty buds are frequently seen on some 

 varieties at this season, and they should be cut off as soon as 

 discovered, since it is a waste of the energies of the plant to 

 allow it to finish the growth of such a bud, apart from the 

 valuable time lost by the grower while waiting for the devel- 

 opment of a flower finally decided to be worthless. 



Good Roses have been rather scarce during the past holi- 

 day season, the mild weather of December having disar- 

 ranged the calculations of many growers. In addition to the 

 high temperature, most of the month was very damp, both of 

 which conditions were far from beneficial to the Rose-crop. 

 In fact it has been anything but an ideal season for Rose- 

 growing thus far, and this serves to impress upon the minds 

 of growers the truth that although a Rose may be an every-day 

 kind of plant, yet it is not an every-day occurrence to see a 

 house of Roses in perfect condition. 



The early crops of Hybrid Perpetuals have not been up to 

 standard in many cases, though some good houses are to be 

 seen, while others have proved total failures. This latter 

 condition was not a surprising one on account of the exces- 

 sive rains of the past summer, the frequent downpour ren- 

 dering it almost impossible to properly ripen the wood for 

 early crops. Among the earlier hybrids Mrs. John Laing and 

 Madame Gabriel Luizet take a prominent place, these being 

 among the most beautiful of pink Roses, and both are readily 

 forced. 



Each of these two excellent varieties has many admirers, 

 Madame Luizet being, perhaps, the largest flower, though 

 Mrs. Laing possesses some advantage in point of form. 



It is said that Wootton is producing the best result in the 

 hands of the introducer. Possibly the needs of this variety 

 are better understood there than elsewhere. 



Another addition to the list of Roses is now ottered by a 

 western firm in the form of a sport from Papa Gontier. 

 From the description, this new candidate for public favor 

 seems to be of questionable merit, the novel feature being 

 its variegated color, which is more or less splashed with dif- 

 ferent shades. It does not appear that this would be an im- 

 provement on the tvpe. .„ , r „ . ,. 



Holm^sburg. Pa. " W. H. Taplltl. 



Christmas Roses. 



SINCE the notes on these plants published in GARDEN AND 

 FOREST of January 1st were written, other species and 

 varieties of Hellebores have come into bloom, namely: H. 

 orientalis, H. abchasicus, H. nigcr. If. niger angustifolius, the 

 variety known as the Scotch, or YVardie Lodge form, and H. 

 niger "maximus. They make a very interesting group, thanks 

 to the abnormal mildness of the season, and they were equally 

 good last year. The winter of 1SSS-9 and the present oik-, so 

 far, have been distinctly English, and our Hellebores have 

 flowered above the snow when there has been any), actually 



