174 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE chap. 



Thrips, well known as a pest on many plants 

 under glass, are often very destructive in hot seasons 

 on dry soil. These active, tiny, black insects cannot 

 eat much, it is true, but as what they do eat is the 

 petals of the Eoses themselves they often just suffice 

 to spoil an otherwise perfect bloom. In many 

 places they seem to be hardly known as an out-door 

 pest ; and I could scarcely get some friends to believe 

 how much all my light-coloured Eoses suffered in 

 this way in rusty and disfigured petals till the year 

 1893, when owing to the drought the nuisance was 

 more widely felt. 



I am seriously inclined to think that for Teas, at 

 all events in my garden, thrips are the worst of all 

 pests. From two good rows of standard Teas in 

 fine health and growth I gathered in 1893 but one 

 decent bloom, the petals being terribly discoloured 

 and even distorted in every other case, and each 

 flower swarming with the enemy. 



The remedy for thrips as for red spider is moisture ; 

 but unfortunately for Tea Eoses the remedy is as 

 bad as the disease. It is probably a good plan to 

 syringe the plants, and the buds before they actually 

 begin to open, with some good insecticide. Syring- 

 ing, even with plain water, will undoubtedly keep 

 off the thrips, and if continued as long as it is safe 

 without injuring the petals from damp, the pest will 

 not in most seasons be found in much strength. 

 Constant damping of the soil under the blooms 

 would probably be useful. 



A species of upholsterer bee (Megachile) lines its 

 nest with pieces cut out of the leaves of Eose- 

 trees. These pieces are taken so evenly, neatly, and 

 cleanly away from the sides of the leaf, generally in 



