42 THE BOOK OF THE ROSE chap. 



but I do not suppose that anyone can accurately 

 appraise the value of a soil for Eose-growing by 

 simple examination, and even chemical analysis is 

 sometimes fallacious. The test of results is the best 

 and most reliable, and the value of land for wheat or 

 pasture (either of which is a good guide) is well 

 understood by local men in any part of the country. 

 One field will often differ very much in value from 

 another that looks just the same ; but this is all well 

 known, as to practical results, by the farmers and 

 labourers on the spot, and much reliance should be 

 placed upon their opinion, in conjunction with ex- 

 amination of the soil, in test holes to the depth of 

 two or three feet at least. The best wheat land, 

 high-rented pasture, a neighbourhood where the 

 English oaks and elms grow large and the hedges are 

 vigorous and strong, with long clean healthy shoots 

 — such signs as these will be better guides to the 

 seeker for a Bose soil than geological maps, which 

 often give no indication as to the nature of the 

 surface. 



The principal soils likely to be found are clay, 

 loam, gravel, chalk, and sand. 



Clay. — The general idea is that clay land is most 

 suitable for Eoses ; but there is a very great differ- 

 ence in the fertility of clays, from the poor blue 

 shale clay of the Weald of Sussex to the rich yellow 

 unctuous butter that feeds fat the Eoses of Col- 

 chester. The grey, or light-coloured boulder clay is 

 often very deficient in humus, and requires a good 

 deal of manure, or better still dark-coloured soil, to 

 be mixed with it. In this matter there can be no 

 better guide, as I have said, than the local knowledge 

 which has been gained by generations of experience 



