SOILS, PLANTINGS, PRUNINGS 25 



petticoat ; " for the forest of Eversley in 

 mediaeval times was the link that joined the 

 forests of Windsor on the north-east and 

 Pamber on the west. There is deep peat 

 in the bogs that run up into the heather- 

 clad stretches of Hartford-bridge Flats and 

 the fir forests of Bramshill and Elvetham, 

 where slow moorland streams ooze out of 

 the iron-pan cap of the Upper Bagshots, dyed 

 madder -brown with stems of Heather and 

 the sponge of Sphagnum through which they 

 creep ; while in the lowland pastures along 

 the little river Blackwater that divides Hamp- 

 shire from Berkshire, we find the delicious 

 brown fibrous turfy loam that grows the 

 finest of Roses for those who know its 

 precious secret. 



It will easily be seen that the dear " Rubbish 

 heap of the Universe " is poor soil and light 

 soil. Cold draughts from the moors above bring 

 us late and early frosts my Dahlias have 

 been nipped in the third week in September, 

 while those at Bramshill Park and Finchamp- 

 stead, a hundred feet higher up, have been 



