78 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE CHAP. 
rain would wash ‘‘ the good”’ out of the top-dressing 
more gradually and with better effect than could be 
produced by applying liquid manure in quantity, 
and if the top-dressing was exhausted by much 
rain, a new supply could take its place. This is 
true, but a top-dressing has its drawbacks :—not 
only in its unsightliness, for the enthusiast will 
think nothing of that—he wants the most perfect 
Roses and will endure anything for that object 
—but that, if laid on thick enough to be of any 
service in feeding, it hinders the beneficent influences 
of sun and air, brings weeds of its own and makes 
their extirpation troublesome, and, above all, pre- 
vents the most important cultivation of the surface 
during May and June by the Dutch or rather the 
“ Sproughton ” Hoe. 
Nevertheless, on light soils, by which in this case 
I mean light in colour and light in weight, decom- 
posed solid manure has a very good effect when 
applied as a top-dressing, and does act as a mulch as 
well. On hungry and porous soils, such farmyard 
manure, sufficiently far gone for the straw to have 
lost all colour, or ‘‘ short’”’ enough to be moved with 
a shovel or spade, even though it be laid on several 
inches thick, completely disappears in the course of a 
year, and hardly any sign of it except a darker colour 
to the soil remains. 
On poor gravelly ground, where no fresh soil has 
been imported, a liberal top-dressing of this sort, 
especially if plenty of good manure has also been 
placed beneath the roots, will enable Standard Teas 
to be grown to perfection ; for it will not hinder but 
facilitate the use of liquid manure, natural or artificial, 
as well. On such ground, poor, porous, and wanting 
