218 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



inches between the drills, and one inch less between 

 each plant in the row. The best manure is turf from 

 old pasture mixed with half its bulk of cow's dung, 

 kept and frequently turned till the mass be well rotted 

 and pulverised.* The bed must be manured and dug 

 before winter, and, when finely reduced by frost, as 

 early in February as the soil has sufficient dryness, 

 the roots should be planted an inch below the surface, 

 taking care to place the buds uppermost. Free 

 watering is requisite in dry weather; and when the 

 blow is full, a few mats, supported by hoops, may be 

 used to screen the sun and prolong the period of 

 beauty. When the leaves have decayed and the 

 soil is very dry, the roots may be taken up, and either 

 rubbed free of earth or washed and dried in the shade. 

 They may be kept in a box or drawer in any apart- 



* The author feels reluctant to introduce amongst pretty 

 flowers the coarse word for manure in the absolute ; and, being 

 aware that a work on matters of taste should be itself also taste- 

 ful, was willing throughout to have avoided the above name, 

 which, as he understands, is not pleasant to readers of the town. 

 But being obliged to write of such a thing, and finding it impos- 

 sible to do without the offending term, he takes refuge in the 

 conviction, that wherever the garden reader becomes also the 

 garden cultivator, (and that is the author's aim,) the antipathy 

 will wear off, by that law of our nature which makes things, un- 

 seemly in themselves, look well when viewed in their seemly 

 effects. As an instance of this kind, at least similar in some 

 respects : No eye ever loved the angular and uncouth hierogly- 

 phics of a dead tongue, but the sight is endured till they get in- 

 corporated with the soil of moral cultivation ; and then the de- 

 formity altogether disappears, and the virtue springs up on the 

 rich field that glows with the flowers of Grecian poetry, and the 

 fruits of Hebrew piety : So amidst laden trees and flowery walks, 

 that which at first offends loses all power of offence when seen 

 in its beautifying effects, and familiarly known as the source of 

 all that is fair and fruitful in the scene. And of all the manipu- 

 lations detailed in this treatise, there is none the author values 

 more than the art of augmenting and economically using the 

 pabulum vilce of the garden the very heart of its living frame. 



