iS6g.] CAPE HEATHS. . 223 



of the influence of floral beauty. In all the sorts there is a symmetry 

 and elegance in the habit and foliage peculiarly their own, while the 

 , rich yet chaste beauty of the flowers, both in form and colour, can 

 scarcely be surpassed, rendering them worthy of all the care and appli- 

 cation necessary to their full development. They form one of the 

 largest groups of greenhouse plants in cultivation, an immense num- 

 ber of species having been introduced, from first to last, from their 

 native habitat ; and as these are being continually augmented by the 

 labours of the hybridiser, ample scope is afforded for selection, and, 

 if done judiciously, a show of bloom may be secured during the greater 

 part of the year. 



Notwithstanding their merits and capabilities for decoration, however, 

 they are by no means so universally grown as they deserve, or even as 

 they -svere some twenty years ago, w^hen a few specimens were con- 

 sidered indispensable, even in the most limited collections, and when 

 the Heathery was a never-failing adjunct to the large establishment. 

 This seems now rather the exception than the rule ; and where they 

 are really grown, they too often bear the marks of careless treatment, if 

 not utter neglect. It is no doubt quite true that in many gardens they 

 are still grown, and brought to a perfection such as we believe they never 

 reach in their native table-land itself ; and the specimens which from 

 time to time adorn our show-tables, reflect the highest credit upon 

 the exhibitors. But we claim for our favourites a larger share of atten- 

 tion, and a far more prominent place than they at present enjoy. 



In nothing does the aphorism, that " what is worth doing is worth 

 doing well," apply with greater force than to the cultivation of 

 Heaths. In point of fact, to obtain a good specimen both skill and 

 attention are indispensable ; not, indeed, that the difliculties are so 

 great as to prevent any one with moderate attainments and the ordin- 

 ary appliances of a greenhouse surmounting them, or that any more 

 care is wanted than what must be taken to produce a creditable Zonale 

 Pelargonium ; but that in order to have a good specimen Heath, high 

 culture is absolutely necessary. In speaking of a specimen, I may 

 remark that I mean a handsome bushy plant, furnished with vigorous 

 healthful shoots full of leaves from the pot upwards, and not the 

 miserable starved-looking anatomies we have too often the misfortune 

 to see, even on exhibition-tables, with naked lank branches, the top 

 shoots attenuated and weakly, the leaves sickly and yellow, and the 

 whole plant impaled with such a tremendous array of stakes, that the 

 poor martyr nearly loses its identity, and the beholder is impressed 

 with the idea that the plant is there to exhibit the symmetrical 

 arrangement of the stakes, rather than the stakes being subservient to 

 the requirements of the plant. Stakes are doubtless indispensable, and 



