Hellebore wash is made in the following proportion—
| 1 oz. fresh-ground hellebore powder. |
| 2 oz. flour. |
| 3 gallons of water. |
Mix the hellebore and flour with a little water till dissolved; then stir into the rest of the water and apply with a fine Abol Syringe.
Caterpillars of many moths are among the most deadly foes of the rose. Some eat the foliage—such as the Buff Tip and Vapourer Moths; others tunnel into the leaves. But the worst of all are the Tortrix Moths or Rose Maggots, whose repulsive grubs eat the unopened blossoms and spin the delicate young leaves together, destroying the whole top of the new shoots. There are many varieties of Tortrix, which are all quite small moths, and their caterpillars or "Maggots" are the most unpleasant and destructive of all we have to deal with. The worst of all are the Red and the Brown Rose Maggots. These creatures are dirty red or brown, with black heads; they are soft, and grow very fat, and when full grown are half an inch long. They spin the leaves together at the top of the tender young flowering shoots, often bending the top down; and not only eat the leaves in the midst of this filthy fortress, but eat their way into the buds and destroy them.
Other Tortrix Moths have green and yellow-green maggots. The worst is the Green Rose Maggot—bluish-green with a black head. It also spins the leaves together, and grows nearly as large as the brown. It is extremely active, and very soft and slimy.
These all turn to pupæ among the leaves instead of in the soil; and any left in the foliage must be picked out and burnt. If we wait until the shoots and buds are eaten and the foliage spoilt—nay, till often the whole of our early flowers are ruined—the only remedy is to pinch the leaves which conceal the maggot, if we have courage to do so, or to hand-pick every one we see. But happily a way exists of preventing these loathsome pests from destroying our roses. And this is to spray the plants from the middle of April to early in May with arsenate of lead.[9] This should be done twice, and will prevent many other caterpillars from feeding on the foliage.
The Vapourer Moth, the little golden brown moth with a tiny white crescent on each wing, is unfortunately common everywhere, in town as well as country; and its caterpillars are as destructive as they are beautiful. These caterpillars are found in great masses upon the hawthorn and fruit trees, and attack the rose as well. They are handsome, hairy creatures, spotted thickly with bright pink-red tubercles, with four erect tufts of yellow hairs on the back, and five longer tufts of darker hairs, two pointing forwards, one backwards over the tail, and two at the sides.
If there are too many to be hand-picked the bushes must be sprayed with arsenate of lead.
The Buff Tip Moth does most harm in the autumn, when its caterpillars, yellow and green, with longitudinal black lines divided by yellow bands, appear in colonies, feeding upon the surface of the leaves. They should be picked off at once, before they grow large, as they reach a length of two inches when full grown, and disperse, feeding singly. If very plentiful, spraying with arsenate of lead will destroy them.
The Winter Moth, which is such a serious pest among fruit trees, also attacks roses. The caterpillar is hatched very early, in the end of March and beginning of April. It is a "Looper," greyish at first and turning green later, and nearly an inch long when full grown.