52 The Rose Garden. 



draining-tiles in at the bottom. In digging the trenches, they may be cut sloping 

 from eighteen inches at top to two inches at the bottom. We must find out the 

 lowest ground, and secure a gentle fall from the higher ground, that the water may 

 run away freely, or, if no outlet is available, dig a small pond and use the water where 

 wanted in the garden. 



If we do not choose to lay drain-tiles in the trenches, bushes may be put there, 

 or stones, brick-bats, clinkers from furnaces, broken into moderate-sized pieces, or any 

 description of rubble. These will accomplish the same end, if laid sufficiently deep, 

 though not so perfectly, as the soil will find its way amongst them in course of time 

 and choke up the passages through which the water should find egress. Having 

 laid the soil dry, dig it two spits deep, exposing it as much as possible to the fer- 

 tilising influences of the sun and air. Instead of laying it level at the surface, let it 

 be thrown up in ridges in the roughest manner possible. In this state it may lie 

 till near the end of winter, fully exposed to the action of sun, air, rain, and frost. 

 The surface of the ridges will gradually crumble down, and the soil become pulverized. 

 Now for the next step. What description of soils or manures can be brought to 

 bear upon it with the greatest prospect of improvement? Chalk, lime, peat, sand, 

 and burnt earth will improve it ; and stable manure with any decayed vegetable 

 substances, the refuse of the garden, may be added to advantage. And now is the 

 time to apply these. First level the ground, and lay on the top a good dressing of 

 any of the above soils that may be accessible, or thought most suitable. Having 

 done this, in the next place dig the ground over again two spits deep, well mixing these 

 foreign matters with the staple in the operation. The ground is laid level this time, 

 and when finished the places where the Roses are to be planted should be marked 

 out. From the end of February till the end of March is a good time for spring 

 planting, choosing an opportunity when the ground works well. 



But some gardens are so situated that it is not easy to drain them. A make- 

 shift system may be adopted in such cases. The soil may be thrown out of the 

 walks in the immediate vicinity of the plants, to a good depth, and loose stones, or 

 rubble of any description, be placed at the bottom, covering with bushes, over which 

 the soil may be restored. Among the substances mentioned above as calculated 

 to improve wet or clayey soils is burnt earth. Of its value in the improvement of 

 such for Rose culture I have been an eye-witness ; and in a letter to the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle of 1844 (p. 67), I gave an account of the results of its application to some 

 dwarf Roses.* Subsequent experiments have increased my faith in it ; and as the 

 burning of earth is considered by many to be a difficult process, I shall give a succinct 

 account of the plan pursued here. 



Earth may be burnt at any season of the year. It has been the custom here 



* Published also in " Lindley's Theory of Horticulture," second edition, p. 566. 



