INTRODUCTION 9 



of peat, is better than a dozen dying horribly on a 

 border of lime. If you are entering a new house, 

 never deceive yourself about the garden. In these 

 cases it is customary to take all the debris that the 

 builders rejected, or spoilt, or wasted, and arrange 

 it in heaps outside. It is then dusted over with the 

 stuff dug out of the foundations, and called flower- 

 beds. But bits of brick and lead piping, zinc roof- 

 ing and sawn wood, broken glass and broken slates, 

 shavings and mortar, lumps of putty and dregs from 

 the soldering ladle, do not make a flower-bed. You 

 may even spread a mulch of broken drain-pipes, 

 fragments of wall-paper and scourings of paint-pots, 

 upon these foundations, and yet produce no plant 

 food worthy of the name. To grow plants, we must 

 have soil ; and if you are going to be contented with 

 any substitute, you may be wise, thrifty, and sensible, 

 but you are not a gardener, and should never pretend 

 to that proud name. 



Take clay. I would not have enough to make a 

 marble in my garden, if I could help it. Clay should 

 only be suffered in the shape of flower-pots. You 

 murmur the magic word "roses." Well, it is known 

 that they will endure clay ; but that is to their credit, 

 not the clay's. A brave man will do his duty in the 

 face of the enemy, and a brave rose will do its duty 

 upon clay. Nevertheless, some rich, deep loam, full 

 of good stuff, would make its heart much happier. 

 I myself lingered on London clay for years ; but did 

 I flourish ? Far from it. Finally, they had to take 

 me away and give me a bit of peat. 



