10 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



!Mr Keynes of Salisbury recommends " a good wlieelbarrowful of 

 compost — two-thirds good turfy loam, and one-third well-decomposed 

 animal manure." He adds, and the words of one whose Roses, in a 

 favourable season, cannot be surpassed in size or colour, should be 

 remembered practically, "It is difficult to give the Rose too good a 

 soil." 



Messrs Lane of Berkhampstead write thus : " The best method of 

 manuring beds is to dig in a good dressing of stable or other similar 

 manure, this being the most safe from injuring vegetation in any soil, 

 and it never does more good to Roses than when it is used as a surface- 

 dressing. When placed, about 2 inches deep, over the surface in 

 ^larch, the ground seldom suffers from drought, but this is, perhaps, 

 by some considered unsightly." 



Mr George Paul, "the hero of a hundred fights," advises that "in 

 l^lanting the ground should be deeply trenched, and well-rotted 

 manure be plentifully added. If the soil be old garden-soil, add 

 good loam, rich and yellow ; choose a dry day for the operation, 

 and leave the surface loose. Stake all Standards, and mulch with 

 litter, to protect the roots from frost." Well does this young champion 

 sustain the ancient honours of his house, having achieved no less than 

 forty-four first prizes at our principal exhibitions in the summer of 

 1868. 



Mr William Paul, in his interesting work, ' The Rose-Garden,' of 

 w^hich a modernised edition would be very acceptable in the world of 

 Roses, gives, in the introduction, his results of his experiments with 

 manure. "In the summer of 1842," he writes, "six beds of Tea-scented 

 Roses were manured with the following substances : 1, bone-dust ; 2, 

 burnt earth ; 3, nitrate of soda ; 4, guano ; 5, pigeon-dung ; 6, stable 

 manure, thoroughly decomposed. The soil in which they grew was an 

 alluvial loam. The guano produced the earliest visible effects, causing a 

 vigorous growth, which continued till late in the season ; the foKage 

 was large and of the darkest green, but the flowers on this bed were not 

 very abundant. The shoots did not ripen well, and were consequently 

 much injured by frost during the succeeding winter. The bed manured 

 with burnt earth next forced itself into notice ; the plants kept up a 

 steadier rate of growth, producing an abundance of clear, w^ell-formed 

 blossoms j the wood ripened well, and sustained little or no injury 

 from the winter's frost. The results attendant on the use of the 

 other manures were not remarkable ; they had acted as gentle stimu- 

 lants, the nitrate of soda and bones least visibly so, although they were 

 applied in the quantities usually recommended by the vendors. . . . 

 I think burned and charred earth the best manure that can be applied 

 to wet or adhesive soils." 



