“Roses have more troubles than any one other flower.  The rose bush may have lice or it may have a little green bug that jumps very quickly and so gets its name of leaf-hopper.  Kerosene emulsion is good to use.  Often slugs will feed upon the surface of the leaves.  A dusting of lime over the leaves keeps these feeders away.  There is a brown beetle called the rose chafer, which eats the flower itself.  Hand picking is about the best weapon to employ against this enemy.  A scale sometimes comes on the stems.  This scale looks like a white crust.  It is wise to spray such rose bushes with kerosene emulsion.  And better still, if possible, cut off and burn such scale-encrusted parts.

“Cutworms bother the early bulbs and the violets, too.  A great many of the larger pests may be hand picked.  The lice should be sprayed.

“And for the remedies.  The following will be the ones you will need the most: 

    KEROSENE EMULSION

    Soap (Ivory) 1/4 pound

    Boiling water 2 quarts

    Kerosene 4 quarts

“The soap should be shaved up and dissolved in the water.  To this add the kerosene (of course not when the soap and water is on the stove) a little at a time.  Beat it with an egg beater to be kept for that purpose; or shake it vigorously.

“For use against plant lice add to one cup of this emulsion 8 cups of water.  For scale insects dilute with four cups of water.

    BORDEAUX MIXTURE

    I. Copper sulphate (blue vitriol) 1 lb. 
        Water 1 gal. 
        Dissolve the sulphate in the water.

    II.  Slaked lime 1 lb. 
        Water 1 gal. 
        Dissolve the lime in the water.

To one bucket (2-1/2 gallons) of fresh water add four pints of the first solution.  To another bucket of fresh water add six pints of the second solution.

Stir these together.  Keep the rest of the solutions I. and II. for later mixing when it is needed.

WHALE OIL SOAP HOT WATER SOLUTION

Whale oil soap                                     1 pound
Hot  water                                         6 quarts

This is the right dilution for plant lice but for scale insects it is too weak; for them use about two quarts of water to one pound of soap.

“The best way to apply liquid sprays in small gardens is to use a whisk broom.  Just dip the little broom into the mixture needed and shake the brush over the plant.  Then the hands need never come in contact with the poison.  Careful children can use sprays without any trouble.  Josephine has used kerosene emulsion in this fashion:  she pours a little into a saucer, takes a bit of cheese cloth and dipping it into the emulsion wipes the lice off an infested part.  Usually one application is enough.  This sounds like a much more disagreeable task than it really is.  A plant syringe may be used.  But personally I like the hand method.  Of course if there are lots of lice on many plants this would not be practical at all.