ROSES FOR EXHIBITION. 241 



lous rapidity, must be secured with bast. Look 

 out now for the Rose-caterpillar, that murderous 

 ** worm i' the bud." I generally employ a little 

 maid from my village-school, whose fingers are 

 more nimble and whose eyes are nearer to their 

 work than mine, who prefers entomology in the 

 fresh air to all other " ologies" in a hot school, 

 and who takes home to mother her diurnal nine- 

 pence with a supreme and righteous pride. 



Towards the end of May apply a surface-dress- 

 ing, one of those recommended in Chapter VI. — 

 or if the ground is dry, a liberal outpour of Hquid 

 manure ; and at the same time take off freely the 

 lesser and numerous Rosebuds which surround 

 the centre calyx. A painful process this slaughter 

 of the innocents, this drowning of the puppies of 

 the poor Dog- Rose, but justified in their eyes who 

 desire to see the Rose in its brightest glory, and 

 who prefer one magnificent Ribston Pippin to a 

 waggon-load of Crabs. 



The same enrichment and excision must of 

 course be applied to the parental trees from which 

 the buds were taken in July. In a genial season, 

 after a frostless May, the budded Brier (in some 

 places the budded Manetti), 



** A simple maiden in her flower," 

 16 



