394 THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



NOTES ON "AMERICAN" OR TEAT - SOIL SHRUBS. 



ERICA. 



Compared with the many hundreds of species and varieties of this 

 brilliant genus, for which we are indebted to the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and which all require greenhouse culture in this country, the European 

 sorts, well known as hardy Heaths, occupy but an insignificant position. 

 They form, nevertheless, a surpassingly beautiful and interesting group 

 of dwarf free-flowering evergreen shrubs, easily managed, and worthy 

 of far more attention than has hitherto been bestowed upon them. Of 

 the few species from which the now numerous varieties in cultivation 

 have sprung, the mountains and moorlands of our own country have 

 contributed some of the finest, and they are all found in more or less 

 abundance in almost every country in Europe. Growing with the 

 greatest luxuriance in sandy peat, which for the most part forms their 

 natural soil, there is, at the same time, few loams in which they will 

 not succeed, if rich in vegetable matter and free from chalk or lime ; 

 while the worst for the purpose may be adapted for all their wants by 

 the application of a moderate quantity of peat or old leaf -soil, and even 

 a liberal allowance of well-rotted manure, which they all appreciate very 

 much. 



Several of the showiest sorts — such as the varieties of Herbacea, 

 Mediterranea, and Australis — which flower in the order indicated from 

 February till April, are valuable for winter or spring gardening, and 

 have recently been used with the most admirable results, their neat 

 habit of growth, fresh green foliage, and profusion of bright-coloured 

 flowers giving a gaiety and efi'ect which no other plants could at that 

 season, and contrasting admirably with the early bulbs with which they 

 are associated. 



The other sorts — varieties of Tetralix, Cinerea, and Vulgaris — 

 are in perfection from May to September, the one succeeding the 

 other, when Vagans begins to develop itself, and continues till late 

 in autumn. 



The smaller -growing sorts make neat edgings to beds or borders, as 

 they may be kept trimmed and neat without disparagement to their 

 flowering. The best way, however, of exhibiting their beauty to its 

 fullest extent is that of grouping them in beds by themselves ; and when 

 carefully arranged, according to habit and colour of flowers, nothing can 

 be more attractive. To keep them in health and vigour, it is necessary 

 that they should be lifted every four or five years, and either replaced 

 with young plants, which are easily obtained from layers, or sinking the 

 old plants deep enough to cover the bare stems, which render them so 

 unsightly ; this can be done with perfect safety, as the young shoots 



