MANURES. 87 



Where ? Not down among the bones. I tried 

 bones of all denominations — bones in their integ- 

 rity, bones crushed, bones powdered, bones dis- 

 solved with sulphuric and muriatic acid, as Liebig 

 bade ; and I have a very high admiration of the 

 bone as a most sure and fertilizing manure. For 

 agricultural purposes, for turnips, for grass, re- 

 cently laid down, or for a starved exhausted 

 pasture, whereupon you may write your name 

 with it; and in horticulture, for the lighter soils, 

 for the vine-border, for plants (the Pelargonium 

 especially), it is excellent; but in the Rosary, 

 although a magnwut (I feel in writing the pun 

 like the little boy who chalked " No Popery " on 

 Dr. Wiseman's door, half ashamed of the deed, 

 and desirous to run), it is not the summtim bonum 

 of manures. 



Nor up the chimney — though, for Roses on 

 the Manetti stock, and for Tea- Roses, soot is good 

 manure, and useful as a surface-dressing for hot, 

 dry soils. Nor among the autumn leaves, although 

 these also, decayed to mould, are very advanta- 

 geous to the Teas, Noisettes, and Bourbons, and 

 to all Roses grown on their own roots. Sure and 

 great is their reviving power, which gives back to 

 the ground, according to the gracious law of Prov- 

 idence, the strength which was borrowed from it ; 



