48 THE BOOK OP THE ROSE chap. 



Channel," was grown by me in what is practically 

 an old gravel-pit where stones have been raised for 

 the high road. The pit was refilled with the sittings 

 and levelled, and in this soil, unaltered save by 

 cultivation and manure, the above-mentioned and 

 other good Tea Eoses have been grown. 



Chalk. — This is as hopeless as anything to grow 

 Eoses in, and on the upper chalk of down lands 

 where it is close to the surface, and good loam 

 probably far distant, it would be hardly worth 

 while to attempt it. But in a great deal of the chalk 

 formation of geologists it lies at a considerable 

 though varying depth, and the soil above it, of a 

 sufficient thickness for all Eose purposes, may be 

 gravel, sand, clay, or loam. In many of these 

 places the chalk itself is of a clayey nature, and 

 is then called marl, the fertilising value of which 

 is dependent upon the proportion of clay. Poor 

 dwellings and sheds in Suffolk used to be made of 

 what is called " clay lump." This was marl, mixed 

 with reeds or straw, well watered, trodden by 

 a wretched horse till it was thoroughly compacted, 

 and then formed into very large bricks and left 

 to dry but not burnt. When an old building was 

 pulled down the "clay lumps" were considered 

 excellent, if broken very small, for mixing with 

 light land, and I have no doubt they were. They 

 were thoroughly dry, and one of the great difficulties 

 of mixing clay with other soil is overcome if it can 

 be got so dry that it can be beaten into powder. 

 Marl, as a mixture of clay and lime, was a good 

 deal carted on to the light lands for agricultural 

 purposes in times gone by, as the many old marl-pits 

 in Suffolk testify. 



