THE ROSE AND ITS CULTURE. 



339 



the growing season, was a useful antidote to suckers, 

 as well as the practice of making vertical slits in the 

 hardened bark — the first acted as a gentle emollient 

 to the stem and assisted its enlargement ; the second 

 gained a similar advantage by a swifter sui-gical 

 operation, that left many dangers, such as those of 

 canker, gangrene, &c., in its train. Both, however, 

 fostered and prepared the stem for the freer and 

 more copious conveyance of fluids, and in so far as 

 they did this they suppressed or abolished suckers. 



Imperfect TTnion between Scion and 

 Stock. — This is another very common cause of 

 disease ; the smaller the uniting surfaces between the 

 two, the less cause of disease ; hence the superiority, 

 on the ground of health and longevity .of the future 

 tree, of budding to greif ting for Hoses. Owing possi- 

 bly to the extreme hardness of the wood of the Rose, 

 the union between the scion and the stock, where the 

 former are grafted, is seldom so sound and perfect as 

 similar xmions are among Apple or Pear trees. 



CM-eless budding not seldom leads to future un- 

 soundness and permanent disease. The crown of 

 the stem of the stock is very often the cause of 

 this. The general practice of budding on one or 

 more of the side branches, some little way down from 

 the crown of the stock, leaves the latter finally bare 

 and uncovered ; and though certain smears, such as 

 paint and tar, are used to render the barkless crown 

 waterproof, this may render the matter worse by 

 preventing the possibility of a living cap being pro- 

 vided by the bark. The buds on the branch grow 

 so rapidly that the end of the branch is soon lost 

 sight of in the advancing growth of the bud. 

 "Were stem-budding generally adopted and the head 

 of the stock carefully cut over close to it soon 

 after the bud had taken, or the following spring, 

 the disease of stem-rotting and pith deterioration 

 would be greatly checked if not actually abolished. 

 As standard Roses are now generally manipulated, 

 the wonder is less that the wood often perishes and 

 the pith suffers through the exposure to all weathers 

 of the barkless, bald, non- waterproof head, than that 

 «o many of them live so long under such unnatural 

 conditions. 



Insect Pests and Remedies. — Although, as 

 -we have seen, disease abounds among Roses, insects 

 are stOl more numerous. In fact, it is doubtful if 

 any plant is preyed upon to such a serious extent by 

 insect pests as the Rose. They are of aU forms, 

 iamilies, colours, and sizes, and are at work night and 

 ■day, seeking what they may devour. Their rate of 

 increase is so rapid in point of time, so enormous in 

 regard to numbers, that the soberest facts concern- 

 ing their generation and countless hosts would read 



like exaggerated romance. This is not written to 

 cause despair, but stimulate enterprise ; for powerful 

 and numberless as are those devouring hosts, if en- 

 countered in time and warred against with skill and 

 energy, they may all be vanquished before any great 

 injury is done to the Roses. 



Aphis rosea. — This is well named ; for though 

 the genus is one of many species, there is not one of 

 them probably so common and so destructive as the 

 Green-fly, so well known for its evil doings among 

 Roses. The old flies deposit their eggs in the 

 autumn, both parents being at that time winged, and 

 perfect males or females. After performing this 

 duty the old flies die, and the young broods come 

 forth almost with the first flush of sunshine in April 

 or May. These young ones are however wingless; 

 but have the j)0wer, by a process resembling an in- 

 ternal budding, of producing numbers of other 

 Aphides like themselves, and this kind of reproduc- 

 tion proceeds with rapidity all the summer. As the 

 season advances, winged insects of both sexes are 

 produced instead of these wingless ones, and these 

 produce fertile eggs for the next season, as before. 

 Often in the autumn the Green -fly increases to 

 such a prodigious extent that the insects fly in clouds 

 through the air, and become to the Roses a veritable 

 plague or blight. 



Even before they are endowed with wings they are 

 by no means rooted to one spot, for a league seems 

 to exist between the Aphides and the Ants, in which 

 the principle of so much service for so much wage is 

 strictly adhered to. The Ants carry the Aphides 

 into fresh feeding-grounds, and straightway mUk 

 sOme of the sweet juices out of them as their reward. 



All this is stated to enforce the only usefvd way 

 with the Aphis rosea. Slay the first, and you slay in 

 effect a thousand, tens of thousands, and millions in 

 embryo. And besides they are so easily killed at first. 

 With age they become much more hardy and tough, 

 and such killing dressings as tobacco -water and 

 quassia-tea have far less deadly effect on them. 



The mechanical remedy is perhaps after all the 

 simplest, easiest, and best, and no implement of any 

 kind is needed but the finger and the thumb. 

 Gently squeeze the insects between these, and se- 

 that all are squashed or disturbed. If suflBciently so 

 to fall to the ground they seldom rise again ; though 

 prompt killing on the boughs removes the possi- 

 bility of their coming back. The Aphis brush is useful 

 for the same purpose. It somewhat resembles a pair 

 of longish sugar-tongs, with flat grippers instead of 

 bowls. They are also lined with fine hair inside, 

 so that the Aphides-infected branch is seized sufli- 

 ciently firmly to remove the Aphides, while the hair 

 buffers prevent the brush from injuring the leaves 



