88 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE CHAP. 
obvious inconvenience about this in the summer, 
and we have at that time to choose our nights with 
care; I do not then put it on the Rose beds, as it 
has sometimes to be done hastily, and more care and 
better light would be required. It should be under- 
stood that the contents of the overflow or second 
cesspool are nearly as good as the night-soil itself, 
for much of the value is in the liquid. It is desir- 
able, if possible, to have a separate tank with pumps 
for the contents of housemaids’ slop-pails; this will 
be the most valuable liquid manure that comes from 
the house, and will generally not be so offensive but 
that, with choice of opportunity, it may be applied 
in the day-time. 
Soot water is good, but would be expensive and 
troublesome to use in quantity; it is more useful 
for pot plants. The soot should be tied up in a bag 
and sunk in a cask or tank, and the result is a clear 
liquid of a wine colour, much appreciated by gar- 
deners for mild fertilisation. 
ARTIFICIAL MANnuREs.—It is not necessary to go 
into the discovery by the great scientists of the 
possibility of manufacturing by chemistry plant 
manures, which are called artificial not because 
they are not the real things, but simply because they 
are made and compounded by art and science. It 
will suffice to state that those wonderful fellows, 
the analytical chemists, who are always wanting to 
find out what things are made of, showed tnat as 
growing plants consist of certain soluble minerals 
in different proportions, so (they insisted) those 
minerals with the addition of nitrogen would, in 
the proper proportions, make real, though artifi- 
cially made, manure. They first of all discovered 
