MANURES 91 



farmyard manure — when and how should it be 

 used ? 



By farmyard manure I mean all the manures of 

 the straw-yard, solid and fluid, horse, cow, pig, 

 poultry, in conjunction. Let a heap be made near 

 the Rosarium, not suppressing the fumes of a 

 natural fermentation by an external covering, but 

 forming underneath a central drain, having lateral 

 feeders, and at the lower end an external tank, 

 after the fashion of those huge dinner-dishes whose 

 channels carry to the ' well ' the dark gravies of the 

 baron and the haunch (here that fastidious reader 

 collapses, and is removed in a state of syncope), so 

 that the rich extract, full of carbonate of ammonia, 

 and precious as attar, may not be wasted, but may 

 be used either as a liquid manure in the Rosary,^ 

 or pumped back again to baste the beef. 



How long should it remain in the heap before 

 it is fit for application to the soil ? The degree of 

 decomposition to which farmyard dung should arrive 



^ The happy Rosarian who has a farmyard of his own, will, of 

 course, have a large covered tank therein, for the reception and 

 preservation of liquid manure. At all times, of drought especially, 

 this will be more precious as a restorative and tonic to his Roses 

 than the waters of Kissingen, Vichy, or Harrogate, to his invalid 

 fellow-men. Only let him remember this rule of application — weak 

 and oft, rather than strong and seldom. I bought my own experience 

 by destroying with too potent potations, forgetting that infants don't 

 drink brandy neat^ the delicate, fibrous rootlets of some beautiful 

 Rose-trees on the Manetti stock, 



