122 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



for this can be controlled in a way in which the sun may 

 not be, though if the ground chosen is in the bottom of a 

 hollow or in a place where surface water is likely to 

 settle in winter, you had better shift the location with- 

 out more ado. It was a remark pertinent to all such 

 places that Dean Hole made to the titled lady who 

 showed him an elaborately planned rose garden, in 

 a hollow, and waited for his praise. She heard only the 

 remark that it was an admirable spot for ferns ! 



If your soil is clayey, and holds water for this reason, 

 it can be drained by porous tiles, sunk at intervals in 

 the same way as meadow or hay land would be drained, 

 that is if the size of your garden and the lay of the land 

 warrants it. If, however, the roses are to be in separate 

 beds or long borders, the earth can be dug out to the 

 depth of two and a half or three feet, the good fertile 

 portion being put on one side and the clay or yellow 

 loam, if any there be, removed. Then fill the hole 

 with cobblestones, rubbish of old plaster, etc., for a foot 

 in depth (never tin cans) ; mix the good earth thoroughly 

 with one- third its bulk of well- rotted cow dung, a gener- 

 ous sprinkling of unslaked lime and sulphur, and replace, 

 leaving it to settle for a few days and watering it thor- 

 oughly, if it does not rain, before planting. 



One of the advantages of planting roses by themselves 



