DECEiMBER. 263 



of the members and lovers of flowers in general, hoping they may- 

 bring forth something that shall prove serviceable to the progre-s of 

 floriculture. 



Nurseries, Cheshnit, Herts. William Paul. 



BRITISH PLANTS. 



Erica cinerea is abundant in my neighbourhood, the preponderating 

 soil of which is peaty. In some of our uncultivated tracts of land, 

 and where there are but few habitations of men, we find this acct?pt- 

 able little plant, with its associate (E. tetralix), rendering these for- 

 lorn wastes truly gay and cheerful during the greater part of the 

 whole gladsome season of summer. When young, it is in general 

 browsed down very much; and is by soma considered very nutritious, 

 since cattle are unmistakeably known to thrive on this and all or her 

 pasture-lands wherever an abundance of heatli is found to predo- 

 minate. 



E. tetraVx is equally as plentiful as the variety just mentioned. 

 Its flowers are not unfrequ-ntly pure white, though indeed in any 

 case it may justly be pronounced a rival to many of our foreign 

 species, both as to general appearance and also as respects the pleas- 

 ing contrast presented by it in regard to colour. The flowermg 

 season may be deemed at its height about the month cf August, 

 though more frequently it extends over nearly the whole of our sum- 

 mer. This plant, and a frequent companion, so overrun our barren 

 pasture-lands, as to prove of the most material service to many an 

 indigent labourer, who is prospectively encouraged to cut his peaty 

 sods, composed of heath, of i moderate thickness, and to store them 

 up during the autumn, and which in time become dry, and form his 

 principal fuel throughout the cold and desolate winter. This is the 

 uniform practice on thut extensive portion of land known as Chob- 

 ham Common, where a number of these heaps may be observed. 

 This, with the last-named sj)ecies, may be seen presenting an un- 

 usually gay appearance in Windsor Park, about five minutes' walk 

 from the " Obelisk," where these varieties in colour are annually dis- 

 played, and fi)rm the circumstance of numerous foot-paths having 

 been formed by the browsing down of these plants by rabbits and 

 other animals, at the first glance of the spectator he is suddenly 

 reminded, as it were, of some perfect geometrical garden, by the 

 regular and profuse blooming of this attractive little Heath, whose 

 cultivation is warmly recommended. 



Calluna vulgaris (Erica vulgaris) is a well-known, and when in 

 flower, in no way a despicable under-shrub. Like the other, it is 

 us d for a variety of purposes. It is more particularly employed for 

 edging to garden borders, and is eligible for such a i)urpose beyond 

 any of the other native sorts. At one time the young tops were 

 employed in the manufacture of beer. All the British species are 



