THINGS THAT MATTER 61 



us to the conclusion that successful rose growing does not altogether 

 depend upon the soil, but upon something that rises superior to it. 

 We are not inconsistent when we go on to admit that we found 

 some soils better suited than others, for it must be apparent to 

 every practical man that we found growing more difficult on the 

 peat and sand of Lancashire than on the fat, sheltered, alluvial soil 

 of the Thames Valley ; but our point is that difficulties can be 

 overcome if the will is to grow roses. 



The general testimony as to the superior qualities of a good, heavy 

 loam is, of course, beyond dispute, for the rose does undoubtedly 

 like a heavy, stiff soil ; and if we can manage for it to get its feet 

 down into the cool clay during the hot summer weather, it will give 

 us of its best. Yet, strange to say, on soil in the Eastern Counties, 

 where at the depth of a single spit we exposed the bed of gravel, 

 we have grown some of the best hybrid teas, which though they 

 certainly did lack a mere trifle in size and substance, were in every 

 other respect admirable, making up in quantity and colour what 

 they may have been a trifle deficient of in other respects. As to 

 Wichuraianas on the same soil, the growth was surprisingly rampant, 

 and the great masses of flower were as brilliantly coloured as those 

 growing in the Birkdale sand, where colour is most marked. 



What, then, is our conclusion ? It is that no grower " with 

 roses in his heart " need be deterred from growing them because 

 his soil is not ideal, unless it is very obviously unfitted. What his 

 soil lacks that roses want he can generally add, for there are always 

 ways and means of modifying as well as of enriching soil. It is 

 far more difficult to rid the soil of deterrents an undertaking not 

 to be attempted except by those who can afford to wait through a 

 series of years. Soil that is so badly drained as to become almost 

 a bog might by chance prove to be an excellent soil when drained 

 but no one would deliberately choose such soil if any other was 

 available. Soil too full of iron can only be made suitable after 

 years of cultivation and cropping, so as to use up the objectionable 

 surplus of iron, and this again no rosarian would be likely to 

 choose. But given a good average quality, commercial rose growing 

 may be undertaken whether the soil be clay, loam, brash, or peat, 

 for the clay can be modified and the peat reinforced and supple- 

 mented. 



