28 PIOTORIAL PRACTICAL ROSE GROWING. 
Chapter 6.—Bow fo Prepare the Soil. 
Aut soils will not grow Roses equally well, but most kinds may 
be made to yield satisfactory results. 
There is comfort in this dictum. In particular, it cheers the 
heart of the man who has heard so much about clay for Roses. 
and has no clay within a hundred miles of him. 
Emphatically all soils will not grow Roses equally well, and 
it is honest and prudent to recognise the truth. But, on the 
other hand, it is foolish to abandon the idea of growing Roses 
just because the soil in the garden is not of exactly the same 
texture as that of our all-conquering friend Mr. Silvercups. 
There are not many golfers whose clubs are such magical 
weapons that every stroke off the tee lands the ball on the 
green, where a second stroke invariably puts it down—the 
round in 36, so please you! The average golfer does this only 
in his dreams ; 1n his playaday hours he plods round in 180 or 
thereabouts. | 
It is nice to muse over imaginary triumphs on the Rose 
links—how, if we did happen to have that beautiful clayey soil 
which Silvercups possesses, at once substantial and silky, 
mellow and moist, his achievements in the show tent would 
pale before ours. Already our sideboard groans under the 
weight of the trophies we have won with that soil—the soil 
which we never see except in the still night hours. We bow 
acknowledgments and murmur thanks when congratulations 
pour in—only to be prodded, and bidden not to snore. 
The awakening need not bring despair. After all, Koses 
will do on ordinary soil, if they are looked after, and cultivated, 
and loved. The soil at Kew is not wonderfully substantial, 
rather is it on the light side ; yet Roses thrive there, and some 
of the ‘‘ garden” varieties—which, remember, are amongst the 
most beautiful of all—even luxuriate. If the worst came to 
the worst, if the soil was little better than sand, there might 
still be Roses, for the rampant, huge-stemmed Rosa rugosa will 
succeed on the lightest of land. 
The great essential is cultivation—the soil trenched and 
tumbled and manured, trees well planted and pruned. The 
stiff soil will not grow Roses well if it is not prepared. First as 
to drainage. If the soilis clay on a level, it ought to be drained. 
Hideous “ought”! Draining is troublesome, expensive, and 
above all “messy.” Nobody likes to see clay-smeared labourers 
flinging heaps of sticky soil about the place, and cutting zigzags 
as though making entrenchments for an army. The temptation 
