MANURES. 97 



fermentation is so violent that the smell becomes 

 intolerable y 



So powerful is this confection, that I have 

 found one application quite sufficient; and this I 

 apply, when the Rose-buds are formed and swell- 

 ing, towards the end of May, or, in a late season, 

 the beginning of June. I wait for the indications 

 of rain, that the fertilizing matter may be at once 

 washed down to the roots ; and it never fails to 

 act as quinine to the weakly, and as generous wine 

 to the strong. During the extraordinary drought 

 of the summer in 1868, I watched day after day 

 — nay, week after week — with a patience worthy 

 of that deaf old gentleman who listened for three 

 months to catch the ticking of a sun-dial, or of 

 him who undertook the tedious task of teaching a 

 weather-cock to crow; and at last, feeling sure of 

 my shower, wheeled barrow after barrow with my 

 own hands, not seeming to have time to call for 

 help, over the little bridge, and distributed it as a 

 Lord Mayor turtle to recipients more greedy than 

 aldermen. Soon the big rain came dancing to the 

 earth, and when it had passed, and I smoked my 

 evening weed among the Rose-trees, I fancied that 

 already the tonic had told. At all events, it is 

 written in the chronicles of the Rose-shows how 

 those Roses sped. 



7 



