MANURES. 93 



** Grim spirits in the air, 

 Who grin to see us mortals grieve, 

 And dance at our despair," 



fiendishly suggested to my mind an economical 

 desire to utilize the souvenir before me. I looked 

 around and listened ; no sight, no sound, of hu- 

 manity. I fetched the largest fire-shovel I could 

 find, and was carrying it bountifully laden through 

 an archway cut in a high hedge of yews, and 

 towards a favorite tree of " Charles Lefebvre,"^ 

 when I suddenly confronted three ladies, " who 

 had sent round the carriage, hearing that I should 

 soon be at home, and were admiring my beautiful 

 Roses." It may be said with the strictest regard 

 to veracity, that they saw nothing that day which 

 they admired, in the primary meaning of the 

 word, so much as myself and fire-shovel ; and I 

 am equally sure that no Rose in niy garden had a 

 redder complexion than my own. 



And now, to be practical, what do I mean by 

 farm-yard manure — when and how should it be 

 used ? 



By farm-yard manure I mean all the manures 

 of the straw- yard, solid and fluid, horse, cow, pig, 

 poultry, in conjunction. Let a heap be made 

 near the Rosarium, not suppressing the fumes of a 

 natural fermentation by an external covering, but 



