Ill 



SITUATION AND SOIL 



33 



a wall ; and some of the hot-season Teas, such as La 

 Boule d'Or, Madame Margottin, or Madame Hippolyte 

 Jamain, will often succeed on a wall, and even not be 

 too early to show, in seasons when they fail in the 

 open. 



No wall should be neglected. I have grown the best 

 of Teas on the low wall surrounding a deeply gravelled 

 stable yard, and have won a medal with Souvenir 

 d'Elise from this hopeless-looking place I have in such 

 cases planted the stock against the wall and budded it 

 there, with no preparation of the soil. The stock rooted 

 itself firmly and strongly, and when the Rose began to 

 grow I found that a big basin or depression in the soil 

 round the root and plentiful supplies of liquid manure 

 were sufficient for the production of capital growth and 

 splendid blooms. 



Apart from walls or buildings, the question of shelter 

 is a difficult one ; for it must be carefully remembered 

 that the neighbourhood of trees, shrubs, or hedges whose 

 roots can reach the beds, and also all actual shade, 

 should be sedulously avoided. And, again, the situation 

 must be quite free and open, not close and stuffy ; and 

 if no shelter whatever can be had, the finest Roses can 

 still be grown, for the grounds of nurserymen, even 

 those who are most successful at the shows, are absolutely 

 open and exposed to the four winds of heaven. After 

 all, then, it is better to be moderately high and exposed 

 than to be too sheltered and too low, particularly if the 

 shelter consist of growing trees or shrubs which stand 

 too close. But, if thus unsheltered, extra and constant 

 care must be given in the growing season to tying and 

 supporting : the majority of the H.P.s should be grown 

 <as dwarfs, and stout bamboo stakes should support the 

 permanent standards. 



