232 
LITERARY NOTICE. 
delighting in a rich soil, dislike green manures more than most 
plants. In heavy soils a good dressing of chalk, peat, burnt 
earth, or sand may be used, not to the preclusion of, but in ad¬ 
dition to, the animal or vegetable manures. In light soils, espe¬ 
cially such as are of a gravelly or sandy nature, stiff loam may 
be applied to advantage; these substances being thrown on the 
surface of the beds with the usual manures, and forked in at the 
same time. We would remark here that stable manure, which 
is excellent in most cases, and the kind in general use for roses, 
is not of the best description for light soils: its tendency is to 
render them still lighter, and, if it can be dispensed with, we 
think it desirable to do so. Manures should be applied here in 
a more concentrated form; cow-dung is excellent, especially for 
the tea-scented roses, and pigeon or rabbit-dung and night-soil 
are all great improvers of light soils. 
“ It may be thought that guano should be a good manure for 
roses on cold and poor soils. It probably might prove so if used 
sparingly, and in conjunction with vegetable manures. I do not, 
however, think guano the. best thing for roses in the generality 
of soils. It certainly increases the vigour of a plant, but seems 
to act more favorably on the foliage than on the flowers. It may 
be said, that this is due to the use of it in excess; but this I am 
not disposed to grant. In the spring of 1846 I scattered guano 
in variable quantities over some newly forked beds of roses, just 
as the buds were pushing forth. The soil where this experiment 
was made is a dry loam, rather stiff, of excellent staple, but poor; 
the subsoil to the depth of twelve feet is yellow loam or brick- 
earth ; below this is gravel. In every instance where the guano 
was applied the growth was more vigorous, and the foliage de¬ 
veloped of extraordinary richness and beauty; but mark ! it was 
at the expense of the flowers. Such were the consequences at¬ 
tending its use to plants in full health on one soil; on soils 
otherwise constituted the results might be different.” 
The next chapter is on the Formation of the Rosarium, and is 
very complete, containing several woodcuts of existing rose- 
gardens, including those so justly celebrated in the Jardin du 
Luxembourg, at Paris, and designs for others; and Part V con¬ 
tains a chapter on Arrangement and Planting, followed by the 
commencement of another on Pruning, both composed of obser- 
