12 THE BOOK OF ROSES 



while Mr Melliar quotes the case of a Marechal Niel 

 budded on a sweetbriar, near which a quantity of 

 night-soil was buried during the winter. "One of 

 the shoots from that bud, being laid along a wall, 

 reached in the course of the Summer the length of 

 27 feet." 



Of liquid manures the most common and perhaps the 

 best is the washings from a farmyard or stable, prefer- 

 ably the former, used very weak and given frequently. 

 The commonest mistake in using these liquid manures is 

 giving them too strong. Dean Hole warns the Rose 

 amateur against this danger " let him remember this 

 rule of application weak and often rather than strong 

 and seldom. I bought my own experience by destroying 

 with too potent potations forgetting that infants don't 

 drink brandy neat the delicate fibrous rootlets of some 

 beautiful rose-trees on the Manetti stock." Unless the 

 liquid manure is known to be extremely weak it should 

 always be diluted, as it can do no harm if too weak, but 

 much if too strong. 



Soot-water is a good stimulant for Roses, giving fine 

 colour to both foliage and flowers. It should be made 

 by putting a peck of it in a sack and infusing it in 

 about 35 gallons of water rain-water for preference 

 for three days. This will be found about the right 

 strength for using " neat," and should be given once or 

 twice a week. This same mixture, with the addition of 

 half a bushel of any farmyard manure, horse, sheep or 

 cow, may be used with good results both for pot and 

 outdoor roses, for the former diluted with two-thirds its 

 bulk of water, and for the latter used as it is. Of pig 

 manure, a peck is needed to the above quantities of soot 

 and water. 



A valuable manure is the contents of the housemaid's 

 slop pails, and this may generally be used as it is, being 

 mixed with soapy water, etc. The droppings of the 



