98 A BOOK ABOUT ROSES 



dressing of stable or other similar manure, this being 

 the most safe from injuring vegetation in any soil, 

 and it never does more good to Roses than when 

 it is used as a surface-dressing. When placed, about 

 two inches deep, over the surface in March, the 

 ground seldom suffers from drought ; but this is, 

 perhaps, by some considered unsightly.' 



Mr. George Paul, ' the hero of a hundred fights,* 

 advises that ' in planting the ground should be 

 deeply trenched, and well-rotted manure be plenti- 

 fully added. If the soil be old garden-soil, add 

 good loam, rich and yellow; choose a dry day for 

 the operation, and leave the surface loose. Stake all 

 standards, and mulch with litter, to protect the roots 

 from frost.' 



Mr. William Paul, in his interesting work, ' The 

 Rose-Garden,' gives, in the Introduction, the results 

 of his experiments with manure. ' In the summer 

 of 1842,' he writes, ' six beds of Tea- scented Roses 

 were manured with the following substances: (i) bone- 

 dust, (2) burnt earth, (3) nitrate of soda, (4) guano; 

 (5) pigeon-dung, (6) stable manure, thoroughly de- 

 composed. The soil in which they grew was an 

 alluvial loam. The guano produced the earliest 

 visible effects, causing a vigorous growth, which 

 continued till late in the season ; the foliage was 

 large and of the darkest green, but the flowers on 



