48 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE CHAP. 
Channel,” was grown by me in what is practically 
an old gravel-pit where stones have been raised for 
the high road. The pit was refilled with the siftings 
and levelled, and in this soil, unaltered save by 
cultivation and manure, the above-mentioned and 
other good Tea Roses have been grown. 
CuaLK.—This is as hopeless as anything to grow 
Roses in, and on the upper chalk of down lands 
where it is close to the surface, and good loam 
probably far distant, it would be hardly worth 
while to attemptit. But in a great deal of the chalk 
formation of geologists it lies at a considerable 
though varying depth, and the soil above it, of a 
sufficient thickness for all Rose purposes, may be 
gravel, sand, clay, or loam. In many of these 
places the chalk itself is of a clayey nature, and 
is then called marl, the fertilising value of which 
is dependent upon the proportion of clay. Poor 
dwellings and sheds in Suffolk used to be made of 
what is called ‘‘ clay lump.” This was marl, mixed 
with reeds or straw, well watered, trodden by 
a wretched horse till it was thoroughly compacted, 
and then formed into very large bricks and left 
to dry but not burnt. When an old building was 
pulled down the “clay lumps” were considered 
excellent, if broken very small, for mixing with 
light land, and I have no doubt they were. They 
were thoroughly dry, and one of the great difficulties 
of mixing clay with other soil is overcome if it can 
be got so dry that it can be beaten into powder. 
Marl, as a mixture of clay and lime, was a good 
deal carted on to the light lands for agricultural 
purposes in times gone by, as the many old marl-pits 
in Suffolk testify. 
