40 



THE BOOK OF THE ROSE 



CHAP. 



this heavy loam should be placed at the bottom where 

 the gravel was, but a little of the light soil may be mixed 

 with it and a little of the fresh stuff added to the upper 1 

 portion. How to do this will be further described in 

 the next chapter; but it is important to notice that 

 when the beds are thus made up of good Rose material 

 in what is naturally a gravel soil, the advantage is 

 gained of having such perfect natural drainage at the 

 sides as well as at the bottoms of the beds as could not 

 well be attained in what is by nature a good Rose soil. 



Furthermore, Tea Roses may be grown to perfection 

 on gravel soil. A large quantity of good manure should 

 in this case take the place of the gravel at the bottom, 

 to which a little of the heavy loam may be added, 

 though I do not believe it to be necessary. For Teas 

 there is no occasion to be afraid of the multitude of 

 small stones which are natural to a gravel soil ; for I 

 believe Mr. George Paul was right when he stated in the 

 Rosarians Year Booh that " Tea Roses like grit." The 

 bloom of Madame Cusin which gained the medal at the 

 Crystal Palace in 1893 as the best Tea exhibited by an 

 amateur, and was characterised by the Secretary of the 

 National Rose Society as " certainly never equalled in 

 any exhibition on this side of the 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 siftings and levelled, and in this soil, 

 unaltered save by cultivation and manure, the above- 

 mentioned and other good Tea Roses have been grown. 



Chalk. — This is as hopeless as anything to grow Roses 

 in, and on the upper chalk of down lands where it is 

 close to the surface, and good loam probably far distant 

 it would hardly be worth while to attempt it. But in 

 a great deal of the chalk formation of geologists it lies 



