June 10. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
165 
the number of collections of the move rave kinds through¬ 
out the length and breadth of the land, being sensible 
that they will lead to a more extensive planting of them 
when their beauty and usefulness is better known. 
To return, then, to our pinetum. The situation and 
extent beiug fixed and determined, the ground, if wet, 
should be thoroughly drained, according to the best 
practice or mode of the present day. After that is done, 
the ground should be well trenched, and all briers or 
other weedy shrubs extirpated. The spring and sum¬ 
mer is the best season for this work, because the days 
are long, and the ground will be in fine order for planting 
early the spring following. We prefer spring to autumn- 
planting for this tribe, because the roots will then be 
beginning to be in active operation, and will, with due 
care, suffer the least interruption of growing on during 
the moist and lieat-increasing days of February and 
March; whereas, if the planting is done in the winter 
season, however mild it may be, the roots will be in a 
state of inaction, and will certainly perish (at least the 
more tender fibres) during that wet, cold season. This 
practice of spring-planting is suitable for evergreens, of 
which the tribe chiefly consists; whilst for deciduous or 
leaf-shedding trees, autumn-planting is decidedly the 
best season. At the proper season, then, have all the 
plants ready intended to be planted, and in our next we 
will describe the method of doing it. T. Appleby. 
CULTURE OF ROSES IN POTS FOR 
EXHIBITION. 
(Continued from page 152.) 
Insects and Diseases. —To keep roses in health and 
free from the attacks of insects is a most important 
point of culture. Every other point of good culture, 
though put into practice at a considerable outlay of 
cash and labour, will be rendered useless if due atten¬ 
tion is not almost daily bestowed upon the prevention 
of disease and the destruction of the various insects that 
prey upon this queen of flowers. 
The insects that infect the rose are, the green fly, the 
caterpillar, the grub, and the red spider, and sometimes, 
though rarely, the thrip; also worms often find their 
way into the soil in the pots. 
The Green Fly. —This pest is very troublesome, ap¬ 
pearing frequently during the whole season. Happily 
it is easily destroyed by the smoke of tobacco, which, if 
carefully administered, is not injurious to the plants. 
The most common method is to place a vessel either of 
iron, which is the best, or of earthenware; a garden-pot 
with holes at the sides, and a piece of wire fastened to 
each side to form a handle, is a very good instrument as 
long as it lasts. If tho house or pit is large, two or 
three of these vessels may be used with advantage, 
because then the house or pit is the more quickly filled 
with smoke. Place some red-hot cinders at the bottom, 
and place a covering of either tobacco or tobacco-paper 
upon them, in a rather moist state ; this will prevent it 
from breaking out into a flame. If, when it becomes 
rather dry at the edges, and there is any danger of a 
blaze, have a fine-rosed small watering pot ready, with 
water in it, and sprinkle a little over the tobacco to pre¬ 
vent it flaming. This must be particularly attended to, 
for it is the flame that scorches the edges of the leaves, 
and not the smoke. As soon as the house or pit is so 
full of smoke that you cannot see the plants, remove the 
vessels containing the fire out as quickly as possible, 
and shut the house up close. The best time to smoke 
the house is in the evening, and the plants should be 
quite dry at the time. 
There are other methods of filling the houses with 
tobacco smoke. One was described at page 122 of this 
volume by “ Upwards and Onwards,” which, though 
described in connection with a kind of small tent to be 
used for roses in the open ground, yet the method of 
preparing the tobacco is ingenious, and we have no 
doubt for a small bouse or pit would answer admirably. 
Messrs. Frazer and Son, nurserymen, of the Lea Road, 
have adopted a similar mode of preparing the tobacco, 
with the improvement of hanging up the bundles to the 
roof over the walk with pieces of wire. The rolls are 
lighted at the bottom, and gradually fill the house with 
smoke, the ashes dropping to the ground. Then, again, 
Mr. Ayres, of Blackheath, has mixed tobacco with cap¬ 
sicum or cayenne pods, with good success. Whichever 
of these methods are practised, they must be used as 
soon as the insects appear, and repeated whenever they 
reappear. Observe in the morning whether they are 
killed, and syringe the plants freely to wash off the dead 
insects ; should any be found alive repeat the smoking 
the night following. 
The Caterpillar and Rose Gruh. —These, when young, 
can scarcely be seen, being little larger than small pieces 
of thread. They are not killed with the strongest 
tobacco smoke, though that will destroy their parents 
when in the fly state. The plants must be daily ex¬ 
amined, and whenever any leaves or rose-buds are ob¬ 
served to be eaten or pierced with small holes, it may 
be taken for granted they are present. Sometimes the 
leaves will be curled up, drawn together at the edges by 
the tiny enemy; these should be squeezed together with 
the fingers and the grubs crushed. Caterpillars should 
be picked off as soon as seen, and destroyed. There 
must be no lack of diligence in hunting for and extir¬ 
pating these pests, or the finest flowers will be disfi¬ 
gured and rendered unfit for exhibition. 
The Red Spider. —Though this red-coated gentleman 
is not generally found on rose-trees excepting in very 
dry seasons, yet whenever it does appear means must be 
resorted to, to arrest its progress and increase. We 
have seen the buds of rose-trees, just after the winter is 
past, covered with them, and coming into active life just 
at the time when food for them comes into life also. 
When the plants have been in the house for a week or 
ten days, examine the buds with a magnifying glass, 
and if any are alive they will be observed in motion. 
Then is the time to apply means of destruction. Mix 
some sulphur and water together, and with a fine soft 
brush lay the mixture on every part of the tree. Though 
this will not kill them immediately, it will cause their 
food to be unfit for them, and they will starve to death. 
Should any survive, they may be prevented from in¬ 
creasing by the use of the syringe and keeping up a 
moist atmosphere in the house or pit. It is a fact well 
established, that a dry heat is favourable to the increase 
of the red spider, whilst the reverse, a warm moist atmo¬ 
sphere, is almost certain destruction. Should they in 
spite of all these remedies still increase (and spotted 
leaves will soon show that), the sponge will be found a 
capital resource, as also the fumes of ammonia. In des¬ 
perate cases only must this dangerous gas be used. A 
few barrowsful of stable-dung, in a state of fermentation, 
is the most safe way of administering it. It might be 
placed under the stage in the house, and removed as 
soon as the insects are destroyed. 
The White and Black Thrip, in some dry seasons, will 
attack the rose-trees, and very destructive they are. We 
have always found tobacco-smoke, frequently applied, 
both a preventive and a destructive remedy, not only 
in roses, but on stove plants, and even orchids. The 
space allotted to us is full this week, therefore we 
must postpone our observations on mildew, the disease 
that attacks roses in pots, till next week. 
T. Appleby. 
