wing Fly or
Aphis Lion is also useful, as its larvae are provided with "large
sickle-shaped jaws for picking the Green Fly off the plants."

The Hover Fly--which looks like a small, slim two-winged bee or
wasp--lays its eggs in the thick of a mass of Green Fly, and its green
and grey leech-like maggots feed upon them. And the Ichneumon and
Chalcid Flies lay their eggs in the bodies of the Aphides and their
maggots feed on them from within.

But all these are of comparatively little help to the unhappy rosarian,
who must therefore devise unnatural means to clear his plants.

As far as I know, with the exception of an Aphis brush--a useful
invention, but one which needs very gentle handling--there are only two
safe remedies for this universal plague. The usual one is a wash of
soft-soap and quassia, in these proportions--

Best soft-soap 1 lb.
Quassia chips 21/2 lb.
Water 25 gallons.

Even this wash, excellent as it is, will sometimes fail to get rid of
the scourge in a bad year. But I have found "Abol, White's Superior," a
never-failing remedy. It is also much easier to use, as one only has to
mix it with cold water according to the directions on each can, and it
is ready in a minute.

If either of these remedies are used the moment the Green Fly appears,
and the dose repeated a couple of days later in order to kill any that
may have escaped the first spraying, we have very little more trouble
until the second crop of Green Fly appears in September. It is well to
syringe the plants thoroughly with pure water a few days after the
second dose of either of these washes, as this knocks off the dead
Aphides, and leaves the foliage clean and sweet.

Although paraffin in various forms is often recommended, let me urge
upon my readers that it is a most dangerous substance to use upon the
rose--a naturally delicate plant--as any remedy of a caustic nature is
sure to do it far more harm than good.

Tobacco wash is recommended by the Continental rose-growers for Aphis, 1
part of tobacco-juice to 15 parts of water. If a little soft-soap is
added it makes a better wash. This is also a good wash for

=Cuckoo Spit= or =Frog-Fly=.--This frothy substance if washed off will
be found to contain a yellow creature, often closely wedged into the
angle of leaf and shoot, or at the base of a flower bud. This is a
"nymph" or young Frog-Fly--a most destructive insect--and unless removed
it