ROSES FOR EXHIBITION 



221 



secured with bast. Look out now for the Rose- 

 caterpillar, that murderous ^worni 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 entom- 

 ology in the fresh air to all other ' ologies ' in a hot 

 school, and who takes home to mother her diurnal 

 ninepence with a supreme and righteous pride. 



Towards the end of May apply a surface-dressing, 

 one of those recommended in Chapter VI. — or if the 

 ground is dry, a liberal outpour of liquid 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 royal 

 flower in its 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 frost- 

 less May, the budded Brier (in some places the 

 budded Manetti), 



*A simple maiden in her flower,' 



will show us the most perfect of all its Roses ; but 

 this vernal prosperity so seldom comes, the budded 



