116 THE GARDENER. [March 



be rougher and readier, but they are effective ; and these ' The Garden ' en- 

 deavours to explain in as succinct a manner as possible. Nothing more prac- 

 tical or instructive has appeared in the horticultural journals for a long while, 

 and we commend the papers to those who wish to be posted up in what is now 

 an important branch of the gardener's business. It may not be generally 

 known to gardeners that these exceedingly well-grown little plants of Erica 

 hyemalis, gracilis, Willmoreana, and others, which we see towards the end of 

 the season for sale in nurseries, are very often Covent Garden plants, or, at 

 least, from the growers for Covent Garden ; and the following account of their 

 propagation and management from ' The Garden,' may interest your readers: — 

 "Probably as large quantities of Heaths are disposed of about London as 

 of any other kind of plant. One grower alone sells yearly 200,000 plants, 

 and I believe some grow even more than that number. The large houses 

 devoted to Heath cuttings in some nurseries during winter are alone a 

 sight worth going miles to see. Here, on stair-like stages, are thousands 

 of 6-inch pots, each containing some fifty cuttings, covered with small bell- 

 glasses. In sheds adjoining may be seen men making cuttings with pairs 

 of scissors, and others deftly inserting them in the pots, which are surfaced 

 with finely-sifted silver sand ; others, again, are watering and setting the pots 

 in their places and putting on the bell-glasses, whilst others are removing such 

 as are already rooted to make room for those that are newly inserted. More 

 men may be seen out in the grounds busily nipping off the points of young 

 plants which are growing on in cold pits for the next year's blooming; and so 

 the production of young Heaths goes on from year to year. About Christmas 

 time the markets are crammed with little bushy plants of the rosy-coloured 

 Erica gracilis and the pearly, rose-tinted, waxy-blossomed E. hiemalis, two 

 of the principal varieties grown for winter and spring blooming. These are 

 succeeded by E. Willmoreana and E. candidissima, and after these come the 

 beautiful E. ventricosa and the yellow E. Cavendishii. Cuttings of these Ericas 

 are struck on a very slight bottom-heat during the winter months, or as soon as 

 cuttings of them can be obtained. When rooted, they are potted off, three in a 

 3-inch pot, and placed in light, airy situations, such as on shelves of houses or 

 in lean-to pits close to the glass. During March they are shifted singly into 

 3-inch pots, and, when well-rooted, they are placed in cold pits and subjected 

 to as much light, air, and sun as possible; in this state they remain through- 

 out the summer, receiving abundance of water both overhead and at the roots. 

 In the following winter they are cut back, and as soon as they again break into 

 fresh growth they receive their final shift into 5-inch pots, extra large plants 

 being potted in 6-inch ones. Pure peat and sand constitute the kind of soil 

 used for them ; and they appear to enjoy it, for Heaths may be seen in some 

 nurseries growing as freely as scarlet Pelargoniums. Fire-heat is as much as 

 possible at all times avoided; and in very severe weather, mats, &c, are used 

 to keep the plants at a proper temperature in preference to heat from hot-water 

 pipes." 



The ' Gardeners' Chronicle ' is anxious that none of its leading or other 

 articles be borrowed or stolen "without acknowledgment," to perpetrate an 

 Irishism. We hasten, therefore, to say that the following original hypothesis 

 is from its pages, and is shared by no one else, we believe. Your contempo- 

 rary is concerned to prove that bottom-heat is unnecessary in plant-culture — 

 why it does not matter, and it proves its case thus : " The earth absorbs heat 

 slowly through the greater or less amount of stagnant air in its open surface, 

 its warming powers being still further retarded by the natural disinclination 



