MANURES. 95 



decomposed than more pulverized soils required. 

 Again, the season when manure is applied is also 

 a material circumstance. 



I have made many experiments, but I have 

 come back to the plan which I adopted first of all, 

 and I believe it to be the best — namely, to give 

 the Rose-trees a liberal stratum of farm-yard 

 manure in November, leaving it as a protection as 

 well as a fertilizer through the winter months, and 

 digging it in in March. For some years I manured 

 the plants heavily in the spring, after hoeing or 

 digging, and let the manure remain through the 

 summer. This system succeeds in a very hot, dry 

 season, but makes the ground sodden when the 

 weather is wet, and at all times is an obstruction 

 to the sunlight and the air. I therefore prefer the 

 course which I have named, to be supplemented 

 by liquid manure, or some slight surface-dressing 

 of guano (that which comes from the dove-cot is 

 still almost as precious as it was in the siege of 

 Samaria) or bone-dust, when the buds are swell- 

 ing into bloom ; so that, as the lanky school-boy 

 is placed upon a regimen of boiled eggs and roast- 

 beef, Allsopp, Guinness, and Bass — so the Rose- 

 trees (those nursing-mothers of such beautiful 

 babes) may have ** good support" when they want 

 it most. " It is believed," writes Morton, '' by 



