86 



A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



and, as they seem to man, useless — the fish-fed fowls 

 of the ocean were accumulating for centuries a 

 treasure-heap more precious than gold — millions 

 upon millions of tons of rich manure, which has 

 multiplied the food of nations throughout the civilised 

 world, and still remains in immense abundance for 

 us and generations after us. Guano, nevertheless, is 

 not the manure for Roses. Its influence is quickly 

 and prominently acknowledged by additional size 

 and brightness of foliage,^ but the efflorescence, so 

 far as my experiments have shown, derives no advan- 

 tage as to vigour or beauty; and even on the leaf 

 the effect is transitory. 



Nor in the guano of animal implume — not in the 

 soil called ' night.' The Romans reverenced Cloacina, 

 the goddess of the sewers, and the statue which they 

 found of her in the great drains of Tarquinius was 

 beautiful as Venus' self; but they honoured her, 

 doubtless, only as a wise sanatory commissioner who 

 removed their impurities, and, so doing, brought 

 health to their heroes and loveliness to their maidens. 

 They only knew half her merits; but in Olympus, we 

 may readily believe, there was fuller justice done. 

 Although weaker goddesses may have been unkind 



^ The Rev. W. F. Radclyfife strongly recommends saltpetre and 

 nitrophosphate (blood) manure, as imparting a deeper, richer green to 

 foliage. 



