148 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



insect whose presence cannot be detected till the shoot 

 is ruined. Preventive measures consist in having all 

 the shoots in bud fairly early — in this point and in 

 many others the early man has an advantage over his 

 competitors. I only find this grub on the latest 

 and strongest shoots, and fancy that when once the 

 bud is formed it is safe from this pest's attacks. It 

 has been uiiusualtv abundant with me this year (189-4), 

 but fortunately has confined its visitations princijDally 

 to the shoots of briar and manetti stocks. 



Another boring grub, probably the larva of a beetle, 

 does only incidental damage, as it confines its operations 

 to old wood, where a large shoot has been cut off at the 

 pruning, exposing the pith. It is most injurious to 

 standard stocks as it hollows out the pith at the top of 

 the main stem sometimes right down to, or even below, 

 the shoot wherein the bud is inserted, thereby leading 

 to the settlement of water and consequent decay. It is 

 best, to prevent this, to smear the cut off ends of the 

 standard stocks when planted with paint or some similar 

 substance which will protect the pith. If, at the first 

 pmning of the maiden standard, it is required to cut off 

 the top part of the stock down to the newly formed 

 Rose-head, this smearing should be renewed, as any 

 freshly exposed pith is liable to attack. 



Perhaps the best known of all insect pests of the 

 Rose is the aphis or green fly {Aphis rosae). These 

 creatures are formidable by their astonishing powers of 

 increase, and it is only in multitudes that they do any 

 harm. In their anxiety to obey the command to increase 

 and multiply, the presence of males is postponed as a use- 

 less luxury till the season is nearly over. In the mean- 

 time each individual, as soon as full grown, which will 

 be in favourable circumstances when about a week old, 



