1100 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
carnea and G. ¢. herbacea, because these are the only dwarf heaths that are 
in flower during the first and twelfth months of the year. In like manner, 
the beds marked 9, of which there are eight in all, will be wholly occupied 
with Erica cinérea 4lba and ribra, Gypsocallis multiflora Alba and rubra, and 
Dabee'cia poliifélia, and D. p. nana, these being the only heaths which never 
exceed 3 ft. in height, that come into flower in the ninth month (September). 
Should this mode not be approved of, one sort may be confined to a bed; the 
only principle which is essential to the proper effect of this plan being, that all 
the sorts which have any chance of exceeding 3 ft. in height, should be con- 
fined to the central bed, in order that they may not intefere with the sym- 
metry of the figure, as seen from the side of the surrounding terrace walk. 
Half-hardy, or Cape, Heaths are generally propagated by cuttings: but, as 
seeds are frequently ripened in this country, and are also regularly received 
from the Cape of Good Hope; that mode of propagation is common; and, 
about London, is generally adopted in preference to the other; the plants 
being raised with less trouble and attention, though requiring a longer time 
before they are fit for sale. We shall first slightly notice the mode of raising 
heaths from seeds, and afterwards that of propagating them by cuttings. 
Seeds of Cape heaths generally arrive in England, trom the Cape of Good 
Hope, in the months of July and August; and Mr. Bowie (Gard. Mag., 
vol. i. p. 364.) recommends the latter month as a favourable time for sowing 
them. Mr. M‘Nab, however, prefers February, or early in March. The 
seeds should be sown in pots, well drained, and filled to within one fourth of 
an inch of the top, with “very sandy peat earth, made level and firm; the 
seeds should then be sown on the surface, and scarcely any covering put over 
them. This precaution is absolutely necessary, as the seeds of all the heaths 
are very small, and unable to push through a deep covering. The pots, after 
sowing, should be watered with a very fine watering-pot, and placed in a cold 
frame under glass, where they should remain. They will require water every 
day ; and, if the weather be very dry, and there is much sun, they should be shaded 
with a mat in the middle of the day. As soonas the seeds begin to vegetate, 
the frame should have a little air admitted to prevent damp, and this should 
be increased as the young seedlings gain strength. Whenever the plants are 
sufficiently large to bear handling without injury, they should be potted out 
into small-sized pots, always putting several plants in the same pot, and 
placing them near the edge of it; as some of the seedlings may be expected 
to damp off in the first potting.” (Treatise, &c., p. 15.) The best soil for this 
potting, Mr. M‘Nab considers to be one half peat and one half sand, increas- 
ing the proportion of peat in subsequent pottings. Mr. Bowie pots first in 
three fourths sandy peat, and one fourth sandy loam; and, at subsequent 
pottings, he increases the proportion of sandy loam, till he pots finally in 
sandy loam only. We must confess, however, that we do not think that 
there are many species of Cape heaths which would thrive in this soil; though, 
on turning to the volume of the Gardener’s Magazine above referred to, a list 
will be found of the habitats of ten different groups of Cape heaths, not one of 
which is stated to be sandy peat, and only two in a situation where a black ve- 
getable soil, something like British bog soil, occurs. The seeds of Cape heaths 
Mr. Bowie has known to vegetate well after having been upwards of twelve 
years in England. 
By Cuttings. Mr, M‘Nab finds “ The greater proportion of heaths strike 
root freely, when the cuttings are made of the young wood after it has become 
sufficiently firm to prevent its damping off. The pots for the reception of the 
cuttings should be about nine or ten inches in diameter at the mouth. It is 
a good method, in preparing the pots for the cuttings, to fill them to within 
14 in. of the top with pieces of broken pots, or cinders, the upper pieces 
of which should be of a smaller size than those below; over which’ should 
be put a thin layer of live moss (H¥pnum), to prevent the sand from 
working down among the potsherds or cinders; then the remainder of 
the pot should be filled with fine sifted sand to the level of the edge, and the 
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