84 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. 



I pass now to the consideration of a subject 

 which is one of the most important of all to those 

 who desire to grow Roses in perfection. 



CHAPTER VI. 



MANURES. 



I OPENED noiselessly the other morning, that 

 I might enjoy a father's gladness, the door of a 

 room in which my little boy, ''six off," was at his 

 play. Under the table, walled' round by every 

 available chair, with a fire-screen for the front 

 door, and a music-stool, inverted atop to repre- 

 sent the main stack of chimneys, he was evidently 

 entertaining a beloved and honored guest. The 

 banquet had just commenced, and the courteous 

 host was recommending to his distinguished visitor 

 (a very large and handsome black retriever, by 

 name ** Colonel ") the viands before him. These 

 viands, upon a cursory glance through the chair- 

 legs, did not strike me as of an appetizing or 

 digestible character — the two pieces de resistance 

 consisting of a leg-rest and a small coal-scuttle, 

 and the side dishes being specimens of the first 

 Atlantic Telegraph Cable, presented to me by Sir 

 Charles Bright, with a selection of exploded car- 



