46 
A FEW FLOWERS 
Mildew. — This is a fungous disease caused 
by sudden atmospheric changes and by long con¬ 
tinuance of damp, cloudy weather. The best 
remedies are sulphur and soot. One of these 
should be applied as soon as the disease makes 
its appearance. The foliage should be sprinkled 
with water before applying the substance, or it 
can be put on early in the morning when the 
plants are wet with dew. 
Rose Hopper, or Thrip. — This is a small 
yellowish-white insect, about one-eighth of an 
inch long, and is perhaps the most troublesome 
pest the rose has. They prey upon the foliage, 
and as they jump and fly from one place to 
another they are somewhat difficult to destroy. 
They come in swarms, and if not dispersed at 
once they soon strip the roses of every particle 
of their greens. Syringing the plants freely 
with clear water and applying hellebore, being 
careful to reach the under side of the leaves, 
will destroy or disperse them. 
Rose Caterpillar. — There are several 
kinds of caterpillars that prey upon the rose. 
Powdered hellebore will, in a measure, destroy 
them, but picking and crushing them is the 
more effectual, but less pleasant, way of disposing 
of them. 
Rose Bug, or Rose Chafer. — Some localities 
are never troubled with this pest, but where it 
does appear no compromise can be made with it if 
any rose flowers are wanted, as it eats the 
flowers in preference to the leaves. It is a brown 
beetle that makes its appearance about the second 
week in June. Paris green dusted over the plants 
WHITE CLIMBING ROSE, SCRAMBLING over catalpa TREE. will kill it, but, being a dangerous poison, we rec¬ 
ommend hand picking and burning in preference. 
Rose Slug. — These slugs are slimy and greenish in color, about half an inch long, and feed upon the foliage. 
Powdered white hellebore will destroy them, and I have found any dry dust effectual. 
White Grub. — As this grub feeds upon the roots of the rose there is no sign of its presence until the plant commences 
to wither or turn sickly. When this is noticed search should be made for the grub by digging about the roots, that his 
destruction may save the rose bed. This grub is fond of many other roots besides those of roses, and rarely attacks them, 
but, when it does, often proves very destructive. 
Pruning. — The correct pruning of roses can only be learned by experience. As a rule the strong-growing roses 
should be pruned but little, while the weak-growing sorts should be pruned severely, to induce a vigorous growth. The 
proper time for pruning is late winter or early spring, before the sap commences to move. A summer pruning for many 
Hybrid Pcrpetuals after the June blooming induces the formation of buds for fall blooming. 
The directions given here will give good results; but if highest results are desired, and what the florists call “prize 
blooms" expected, then I advise by all means the buying of Canon Hole’s “ Book About Roses." It is a complete, 
practical and most exhaustive treatise on the rose by the greatest prizetaker in England, and, besides, is the most delightful 
work on flowers ever written, and should be in every one’s library, even if no interest is taken in roses whatever. But if 
this book is used for a guide, and there is none as good, it must be remembered that it was written for a milder climate than 
ours, and that Marechal Neil and such varieties cannot, in this latitude, be wintered outdoors. 
Besides the I lybrid Perpetual, whose flowers are the most beautiful of all roses, there are a large number of hardy roses 
of different classes that might be classed under the name of Decorative Roses ; varieties, the beauty of whose individual 
blooms are not all comparable with the Hybrid Perpetuals, but whose freedom of growth and their bearing, as they do, a 
perfect mass of flowers in June, make them highly effective in the garden landscape. 
Among these Decorative Roses we might properly place the Ayrshires, Prairies, Hybrid Chinas, French, Damasks, 
Multifloras, Austrian, Hybrid Climbers, Briars and Dog Roses, the Mosses, and the Japanese or Rugosa Roses. 
With the free use of these roses the most charming gardens can be made ; gardens whose picturesqueness and natural¬ 
ness afford the greatest delight ; yet some may object that their period of blooming is brief, which is true ; but the memory 
of their June glory will give more pleasure than the most elaborate system of carpet bedding ever devised. These roses 
should be arranged in the most informal way ; many of them being climbers, they are properly the garlands and festoons of 
