In the May number, Mr. A. Williams, of Sharon, Pa., says that his Sunset roses this winter have shown, in a marked degree, a tendency to make blind instead of flowering shoots, and asks if this is not in consequence of its having been propagated from blind shoots? It was formerly held that to get the best results from roses, plants should only be propagated from the flowering shoots; but few rose-growers now believe that to have any influence whatever in the tendency to prolific flowering, and that as a matter of fact, the great majority of roses are now propagated from blind shoots, also that as good, if not better results now are obtained by our large rose-growers than ever before.

The past winter we have had about equal quantities of Sunset and Perle des Jardins, grown both in pots and planted out in benches, and the flowering qualities of each have been almost identica - both flowering profusely. Mr. Williams' complaint is the first I have heard of a tendency in the " Sunset" to make blind shoots. I am afraid it may be attributed to another cause, rather than that of having been propagated from blind shoots.

About a dozen years ago I had a bench of very fine Safrano roses in excellent health, two or three feet in height, that showed a tendency to run blind to an unusual degree. One of the rose-growers from Madison, N. ]., calling one day, I asked him what he thought was the matter. He said if I would allow him to pull up a plant he could show me. He did so, and shook from the roots of the plant pulled up, scores of maggots (the larvae of the rose-bug). That was the first time I had seen this pest. Whenever roses assume a barren condition and are otherwise healthy, I think it will be found that the larvae of the rose-bug, in most cases, are sapping the vitality of the plant.

It is possible that this may account for the barrenness of flower in Mr. Williams' "Sunsets," for it certainly is not peculiar to that variety, nor do I think the way it was propagated has anything to do with it. The only remedy we have ever found for the rose-bug is to destroy the perfect insect, which is found, usually, in pairs crawling under the leaves; it is not easily seen but its presence is known by its cutting a semi-circular piece out of the edge of the leaves. We have completely eradicated them by giving our boys a dollar a hundred for catching the bugs. No insecticide we have ever tried will kill the bug that does not at the same time, less or more, injure the foliage; and to destroy the larvae in the soil we are even more helpless. Jersey City, N. J.

[Mr. Henderson makes a good point in observing that sterile branches come from many conditions. Many years ago greenhouse builders kept chiefly in view, how to enclose the most space at the least cost. This meant somewhat flat houses. The steeper the pitch, the more material and the more cost. The editor has one such house in mind; roses were grown in it; they flowered very badly. Along the back wall some Noisettes, such as Lamarque and others, were planted and would not bloom at all. During the summer the ventilators were thrown open, and so remained all summer. Branches of these Noisette roses came through the ventilators and spread over the glass; all these exposed branches flowered in profusion; none of those that remained growing in the house flowered at all. It was one of our early lessons on the value of steep roofs and plenty of direct light for obtaining flowers from winter plants. And it is here offered as a lesson that may have some bearing on the question of blind shoots. There are, however, many other influences as well as want of direct light - and these may prevail even in spite of abundance of direct light. - Ed. G. M].