MANURES 13 



poultry run are excellent used with soot, half a peck of 

 each being given in 35 gallons of water. 



The time for applying liquid manures should be care- 

 fully regarded. At first sight it seems to the beginner 

 that the best time for giving any liquid nourishment 

 must be when the soil is dry, but this is far from being 

 the case. I cannot do better than quote the explicit 

 directions of Mr Foster-Melliar on the subject, both as 

 regards the time and the manner of applying these 

 manures. He points out that one may be apt to think 

 that when the ground is dry is the time for liquid 

 manure, but it is not so, the drier the ground and the 

 season the weaker the manure and the purer the water 

 that should be given. If in a dry time liquid manure is 

 available and it is desired to put it on, it would be ad- 

 visable to give a thorough soaking with pure water first. 

 It is best on the whole to apply liquid manure when it is, 

 fortunately, most readily available, after a good rain. 

 It must also be remembered that the valuable properties 

 of liquid manure are not contained in that part which 

 remains solid, the "dregs." These are precisely the 

 parts which are nearly valueless to the Rose, the nourish- 

 ment being in the soluble parts. Another point to be 

 remembered is that the roots of Roses are most sensitive 

 at their ends and that the small rootlets are the means 

 whereby the food is assimilated, so that the manure 

 should not be given closely round the stem of the Rose 

 but distributed all over the surface occupied by the roots. 

 Care should also be taken that newly moved plants may 

 have their liquid manure very much weaker till they 

 have made some new strong growth with large healthy 

 leaves. " The wrong principle is the supposing that 

 because a plant is the strongest in the bed it therefore 

 wants the least of the liquid manure : on the contrary, 

 it wants, because it can use, the most." No one would 

 give an invalid the same amount of food as he would give 



