220 THE ROSE BOOK 



with water containing a little syrup or treacle to get it 

 to adhere to the bushes, or the hellebore preparations 

 advertised can be used as a substitute. Stringent and 

 systematic measures are the only practice to which this 

 family of pests will succumb. 



Moths. — ^The larvas of various moths occasionally 

 feed on the buds and foliage of rose bushes. The well- 

 known Winter Moth will select the rose in preference 

 to many other shrubs, and the Lackey Moth has also 

 been found frequenting a rose garden. The most com- 

 mon pests of this kind, however, are the grubs of the 

 smaller moths, Tortrix being the Worst species. The 

 grubs roll up the leaves to form a safe retreat, and they 

 do further damage by feeding on the leaves and twigs. 

 When not feeding, they bind themselves by a silk thread 

 to the leaves, and if the branch is shaken lower them- 

 selves towards the ground. 



Remedies. — Hand-picking and squeezing between the 

 finger and thumb are stiU the most effective methods of 

 eradication, but the arsenical poisons advocated in the 

 previous paragraph may be used for the larvae of all 

 moths. 



Gall Flies. — Who has not noticed the hard, roundish 

 gall, covered with moss green or red-tinted rough hairs, 

 on the wild rose ? This, known as the Bedeguar GaU, 

 is the work of an insect, and is sometimes found 

 on cultivated bushes. The insect is a small one ; it 

 pierces the bark of a twig, deposits its eggs inside, and 

 the result is the weU-known Bedeguar. If the gaU is 

 cut open it will be found tunnelled into many chambers. 



