74 THE ROSE. 



told him, 'that, although he had heard the 

 most renowned performers of the age, he had 

 never met one who perspired so freely!' 

 Nor could I, with my heart as full of charity's 

 milk as a Cheshire dairy of the cow's, think 

 of any higher praise of the plot before me 

 than that it was an admirable place for fern ; 

 and therefore, when my commentary was re- 

 ceived with an expressive smile of genteel 

 disgust, as though I had suggested that the 

 allotment in question was the site of all others 

 for a jail, or had said, as Carlyle said of the 

 Royal Garden at Potsdam, that 'it was one 

 of the finest fog-preserves in Europe, ' then, 

 without further prevarication, I told the 

 truth. And the truth is, that this boundless 

 contiguity of shade is fatal, and every over- 

 hanging tree is fatal as an upas-tree to the 

 rose. The rose in close proximity to a forest- 

 tree can never hope to thrive. In a two-fold 

 sense it takes umbrage; robbed above and 

 robbed below, robbed by branches of sun- 

 shine and by roots of soil, it sickens, droops, 

 and dies." * 



In connection with a choice of location, 

 we must see that roses are provided with a 

 proper soil. They will do well in any or- 

 dinary garden soil that is free from standing 



* u A Book about Roses." 



