1870. ] 
ROSES AND ROSE-CULTURE.-CHAPTER II. 
107 
The season at which rose trees are planted is not unimportant. Do not plant 
in winter ; choose rather autumn or spring. Let a stake be placed to each tree 
as soon as it is set in the ground, tying with stout tar-string or bast, and cover¬ 
ing the ground with stable manure. Throughout the first growing and flowering 
season the trees should be watered occasionally during dry weather. 
The subject of pruning wull form a separate chapter, but I may remark here 
that, according to my experience, the heads of Standard Roses should be well 
thinned out in autumn, leaving only that part of pruning which consists in 
shortening the shoots till spring. 
A vigilant watch should be kept for the Rose Maggot, from the time the 
dormant eyes begin to swell. It is difficult to escape altogether from the 
ravages of this destructive insect, for the mischief is often done before you can 
detect the presence of the destroyer. Look over the plants frequently and closely, 
pointed pen-knife in hand, and wherever you see an eye or a young shoot struggling 
ineffectually to expand, open it carefully with the point of the knife, and the 
depredator will be there. In a somewhat more advanced state of vegetation the 
curl of the leaf is an unerring guide to the abode of the enemy. In addition to 
the rose-maggot, there are many sorts of caterpillars, occasional visitors only, 
which require to be removed by hand-picking ; they are easily discovered, and 
are neither so numerous nor so constant as the former. Then there is the 
aphis, which is always present where roses are, and sometimes in such quantities 
as to become a source of serious injury. Sweep them into a gloved hand with a 
brush of sufficient power to remove or crush them without doing injury to the 
young and tender leaves of the tree. It is a good plan where they gather thickly 
on the ends of the young shoots, to dip the shoots in a basin of strong tobacco- 
water, which will kill many, and render the position untenable for the rest. The 
quantity of lady-birds that visited many parts of England last year, and is still 
hovering about, is a good omen for rose-growers, as the larvae of this insect are 
great-destroyers of the aphis. The number they destroy, and the celerity with 
which they despatch their victims, would seem incredible to anyone who had 
not watched their movements. 
Standard roses, which are budded on the dog-rose, are liable to throw suckers 
from under-ground, and wild shoots from the stem will sometimes break forth 
above-ground. The latter should be cut off with a sharp knife, and the former 
eradicated by pulling them out, or driving a spud into the ground so as to sever 
them close to the main stem. 
When the first flowering of standard roses is over, the flower-stalks should be 
cut off, removing as few leaves as possible in the operation. For this purpose 
pruning scissors are perhaps more convenient than the knife. After a short 
period of rest, the second or summer growth commences, and this will be 
materially strengthened if a little decayed manure be forked into the soil imme¬ 
diately that the first flowering is over. In performing this operation, be careful 
