V MANURES 67 



roots as explained in the last chapter, where I have, 

 I hope, escaped from the apparent inconsistency of 

 urging that the roots should not run deep though the 

 manure be beneath them. 



How, satisfactorily, to apply solid manure to estab- 

 blished roses, otherwise than at the time of moving the 

 plants, or as a top-dressing, is a problem I am unable 

 to solve. But if it be incorporated with the soil among 

 the roots, as is done by many good cultivators, though 

 I am against it, we must consider what its condition 

 should be. It should be thoroughly decomposed and 

 "sweetened" so as to have lost its objectionable quali- 

 ties to the human senses, for not till then is it suited 

 for contact with the roots of the Rose. It is quite true 

 that manure does lose some of its valuable constituents 

 by rotting so far, especially if exposed to the wash of 

 heavy showers ; if the solid be preferred to the liquid, 

 it should be protected from rain, and yet kept just 

 damp enough to decompose thoroughly, and turned 

 of course, as every labourer knows how, to prevent 

 too rapid heating. 



If a top-dressing be used, no confusion must be made 

 between this and a mulch. It is not uncommon to find, 

 in instructions on planting, one to the effect that when 

 the job is done a coating of long manure, which may be 

 forked in at spring time, should be laid on the top to 

 protect the roots from the frost. In the first place it 

 is the plant itself, not the roots, which most requires 

 protection from frost; I have already expressed my 

 desire to know how any manure, much less long stuff, 

 is to be " forked " into the soil in a useful and harmless 

 manner ; and I wonder quite as much what good can 

 be done by long straw, washed clean by the winter's 

 snow and rains, if it is got in. A manure and a mulch 



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