148 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



which I surveyed an early experiment with larch poles, 

 well charred and tarred, driven deep into the ground, and 

 looking from the very first so very rustic and natural. The 

 Rose-trees grew luxuriantly, and for three or four summers 

 I esteemed myself invincible in the game of pyramids. 

 Then one night there came heavy rain, attended by a hur- 

 ricane, and when I went out next morning, two of my best 

 trees were lying flat upon the ground, with their roots 

 exposed (the poles, having decayed near the surface, had 

 snapped suddenly) ; and several others were leaning like 

 the tower at Pisa, some hopelessly displaced, and others 

 deformed and broken. Fallen, and about to fall, they 

 looked as though their liquid manure had been mixed too 

 strong for them, and had made them superlatively drunk. 

 Shortly afterwards I had another disaster, caused by a 

 similar decay — the top of a pole, in which two iron arches 

 met each other, giving way to a boisterous wind, and so 

 causing a divorcement between Brennus and Adelaide 

 d'Orleans, long and lovingly united. I would therefore 

 advise, not dwelling upon other disadvantages resulting 

 from the use of wood — such as the production of fungi, 

 and the open house which it provides for insects — that the 

 supports for Pillar Roses be of iron. Neatly made and 



