THE ROSE GARDEN 55 



Distance Apart. Teas are best planted fifteen inches, hybrid 

 teas eighteen inches, hybrid perpetuals three feet, and rugosas or 

 Moss Roses four feet apart. Varieties will differ greatly as to the 

 amount of space needed. 



Summer Treatment. Keep the soil continually cultivated to re- 

 tain as much moisture as possible; the stirring need not be deep, other- 

 wise roots Me injured. A mulch of lawn clippings is beneficial. Each 

 time a new supply is ready the other will have been dried and worked 

 into the soil. After every redn the soil should be loosened. A good 

 syringing of water every day from the start of the season will go a long 

 way toward keeping the insects off. The time for syringing is morning 

 or evening. At midday it is rather injurious to the foliage. AU 

 through the Summer watch for suckers; they usually have more leaf- 

 lets — five to seven, the geirden varieties having but three to five. 

 They should not be broken off but cut out down to the roots. 



Rose Insects. The Rose plant louse or aphis is one of the com- 

 monest pests; it appears on the yoimg growths and reproduces with 

 great rapidity, soon covering the plants. The tips of branches 

 are stunted and the buds only produce deformed flowers. The daily 

 syringe advocated elsewhere will do much to lessen the attacks, for the 

 insects will be washed off the plants. Whale oil soap (one pound to ten 

 gallons of water), or some nicotine preparation, will surely kill them if 

 one keeps'at them. 



There are several Rose slugs. In each case they are worms which 

 skeletonize the leaves and even attack the plemt when the leaves first 

 unfold. Arsenate of lead (one pound eirsenate of lead to twenty-five 

 gallons of water) is effective, but even water will check them if applied 

 with force. Hellebore -is good dusted on the leaves; it should first be 

 diluted to half its weight with flour or plaster. 



The leaf hoppers can be controlled by spraying with tobacco ex- 

 tract on under side of leaves. The Rose leaf roUer can be controlled 

 with arsenate of lead. There is also the Rose scale, which can easily be 

 washed from the canes with corrosive sublimate or on a large scale 

 sprayed with lime sulphur, or the ceines burned. 



The Rose beetle is especially prevalent on sandy soils. It is a 

 slender beetle, thickly clothed with hairs, yellow; its legs are long, 

 slender, and pale red in color. It appears in early Summer, feeding on 

 leaves and flowers. A spray with a poison does httle, but by some it is 

 thought that they can be poisoned with arsenate of lead if it is mbced 

 with molasses and sprayed on the fohage. Hand picking is really neces- 

 sary. They should be dropped into oil. The white and Ught colored 

 flowers are attacked more than dark reds. The larvae feed on roots of 

 Rose plants. 



