252 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDEN'EK. [ September 29, 1663. 



will grow fine if it can have peat or spongy soO, and is not 

 planted actually in the water. 



If it wlU avail " L. K." to know where any of the ahove 

 are to be found in Cheshire, I shall be happy to tell him, 

 but I do not know any nui-seryman who keeps such plants. 

 — K. 



CULTIVATION OP HEATHS. 



(Concluded from page 228.) 



Wateking at the right time and in a proper manner I 

 consider essential to the successful cultiu-e of Heaths ; but 

 then if the plants are potted -viith. the soil and in tlie manner 

 I have described, there is less clianoe of giving them too 

 much or too little. The soil absorbs a certain amount of 

 water, the rest drains away, and what the soil retains will 

 never stagnate, for a healthy plant will gradually appropriate 

 it ; and if by chance water should be -ivithheld until the soil 

 becomes di-y, its fi-ee open nature will soon allow it to per- 

 colate through. A Heath seldom requires water imme- 

 diately after pottiug, and sometimes it may remain a week 

 or two, supposing it to be in the winter, for I follow no rule 

 as regards the time of the year in potting ; but when a plant 

 is watered for the first time after potting, it should be done 

 thoroughly, so as to wet the mass of soil through, and this 

 cannot very well be done without fillin g up the pot three or 

 foui- times. This is invariably my practice, for I find that if 

 the soU is not properly moistened at the first watering after 

 potting, it never becomes so afterwards, and plants have 

 often died in consequence. After this, when the plants 

 want water, filling up once wiU be sufficient. A practised 

 eye can tell at once when a plant wants water; but few 

 good growers ever trust their eyes only, but generally ring 

 the pot and feel the soil in addition. At the first watering- 

 after potting, I generally use a fine rose, but afterwards 

 merely pom- the water on the soil fi-om the spout of the 

 ■watering-pot. Dm-ing the summer, and while in flower. 

 Heaths require a gTeat deal of water ; but in the winter, and 

 while at rest, they may be allowed to become all bat dust 

 di-y, for a Heath may appear very di-y, and even flag, when a 

 watering wUl cause it to expand and pick up again ; but 

 when a plant shows signs of distress from over-watering, it 

 is mostly in a dying stale, and will be hard to recover, even 

 if that be possible ; but there is little fear of over-watering 

 provided the soil is free and open, and the drainage perfect. 



Summer Treatment. — About the beginning of May, the 

 more hardy sorts, as gracilis and WiUmorei, may be set en- 

 tirely out of doors, if the soil is free, and the drainage good, and 

 they are placed on a good bed of ashes, on boards, or bricks, 

 or in any way so that woims cannot get into the pots, and 

 they wiU take no hurt untU about Michaelmas if they are 

 merely watered as required. But for choicer sorts no place 

 can be better than a brick-built pit, having a good slope or 

 pitch to prevent the possibility of di-ip from the glass. Pull 

 the lights entirely off on all favourable occasions, putting 

 them on in wet weather, and on bright sunny days, and 

 adding a slight shade, but tdt the lights at the side, and 

 keep neither lights nor sh-ides on longer than is necessary 

 to protect from rain or too bright sunshine. They are 

 sometimes stood in a shady place without covering. In 

 this case they must be tiu-ned on theii- sides, should heavy ' 

 rains occur; but if left too long in that position they are apt 

 to turn the points of the shoots upwards, which puts them 

 out of shape. In my younger days I have been called up 

 in the middle of the night to tm-n down a lot of specimen 

 Heaths, and other plants. This is no joke ; and although I 

 would rather do it nov/ than allow favourite plants to be- 

 come injm-ed or killed, stiU I would rather evade the neces- 

 sity of doing so, or of giving others the trouble by putting 

 the plants in a place where they would be safe fr-om 

 injury from cli-enching rains. In places where there are 

 plenty of hands to run and shut up pits, frames, &o., or 

 turn down plants, there is less chance of accident ; but in 

 '.most places tliis is not the case, and it becomes neces- 

 sai-y to avoid such running about, which breaks into the 

 day's work more than lookers-on would suppose. And if 

 plants are to be kept under cover, it must be where they 

 can have fresh air night and day, and not be overhung by 

 other plants. 



Winter Treatment. — When housed about Michaelmas, 



supposing the plants to have been freely exposed, care should 

 be taken to give them all the fresh air that can be admitted 

 to them, for under no cu-cumstances wiU they thrive and do 

 well in a close or confined atmosphere. Keep them cool, 

 and rather dry than othei-wise, and never attempt to hurry 

 them into gi-owth. I should have said that after about the 

 middle of August, the more sun the plants have the better, 

 as this win harden the wood, and induce them to flower 

 better. In the autumn and winter mildew sometimes attacks 

 the Heath, but rarely have I had plants troubled with it, as 

 good drainage, a free open soil, and plenty of exposure to the 

 air, will prevent it, and if it has made its appearance a dusting 

 of sulphur will cure it. Heaths are also sometimes infested 

 with scale, but this is only when they become potbound, or 

 are crowded too much in the wood, or are placed too closely 

 together. This pest is difficult to eradicate if it happen to 

 get ahead, Ijut strong soapy water i-ubbed on with a sponge or 

 soft brush will destroy the insects. Some of the softer-wooded 

 kinds are sometimes troubled with green fly, which is easily 

 destroyed by fumigation. But, generally speaking. Heaths 

 are very clean in then- gi-owth, and if kept in good condition 

 will give the cultivator vei-y little trouble as regards pests of 

 any kind. This I consider a great recommendation to their 

 cultivation. 



The Training of Heaths not only requires both skill and 

 judgment, but it is an art acquired only by practice. A well- 

 grown and well-trained Heath is one of the most beautiful 

 productions of the plant depai-tment that can well be con- 

 ceived. To grow and train one as it should be requires no 

 mean display of skilfiil handling. There should be few 

 sticks, and those thin and tapering, and painted green to 

 match the foHage. The bast matting should be good, and 

 used very thin. I greatly dislike using thread, as some 

 make a practice of doing. The shoots should be trained-in 

 at regidar distances, at the same time giving the whole 

 plant a natui-al and easy appearance. Ent those who know 

 how to train a Heath will not want teUing, and those who 

 do not, win learn more by practice than from description. 

 Men who have to use heavy tools can seldom tram these 

 plants well, and this is often exemplified in the specimens 

 produced in many places, and which exhibit a countless host 

 of sticks, and an appeai-ance the opijosite of easy or graceful. 

 A Heath to look well should have the pot proportioned to 

 the size of the plant, and be trained in such a manner that 

 the eye is not attracted by the sticks. 



The Propagation of Heaths is not generally a part of the 

 duties of the gardener, very few gardeners can spare the time 

 necessai-y, or have a suitable place in which to strike Heaths. 

 Propagators of Heaths and other hai'dwooded plants must 

 undergo a certain training in order to qualify them for the 

 work, and when thej- become competent they generally com- 

 mand good wages. Propagating such plants is an art, and, 

 according to the di\-ision of labour it should be left to those 

 who have studied the art, and certainly those who are un- 

 acquainted with it must not suppose it is equivalent to 

 sti'iking cuttings of Geraniums and bedding-out plants. 

 Some kinds of Heaths will take fi-om six to nine months 

 from the time of putting in the cuttings tUl these become 

 rooted, and some hardwooded plants will take twelve 

 months, and all this time they reqim-e daily attention in 

 wiping the glasses, shading, &c. I simply mention this, SO 

 that those who may be unacquainted with the process may 

 be prepared for what they have to do should they make the 

 attempt. I have struck various kinds of Heaths more for 

 amusement than anything else, and in five years' time have 

 had plants which I consider repaid all the time and atten- 

 tion they required. "This is a long time to wait," many 

 will say. Ti-ue, but then the time comes at last, and it must 

 be remembered that there are propagators now engaged in 

 putting in cuttings of Heaths that in three or four years* 

 time wiU make small flowering plants. The process I have 

 followed is to fill two or three pots of a suitable size about 

 three parts fuU of drainage broken rather small, then a 

 layer of pe.at fibre, then a mixture of peat and silver sand, 

 then half an inch of well-washed silver sand, the whole well 

 watered. The cuttings are small shoots about an inch long, 

 taken as near the collar of the plant as possible and the lower 

 leaves stripped oft'. They ai-e dibbed into the sand with a 

 very small (fibber, and a little water is allowed to drip on 

 them to settle the sand about them. A bell-glass is then 



