TO THE FLOWER GARDEN. 107 



Soil, peat and sandy loam. Propagated by cuttings in sand 

 under bell-glasses. 



EREMOSTACHYS. Desert Rod. LJ-abiat«.] Hardy 

 herbaceous perennial, requiring protection from wet in winter, 

 and a sandy, loamy soil. It is best to preserve some plants in 

 pots in a dry frame during winter. Increased only by seeds. 



ERICA. Heath. [Ericacese.] This very extensive genus 

 of small evergreen shrubs are chiefly natives of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, and require the protection of a greenhouse or 

 dry frame in winter. The growth is as simple as it is 

 singular. Anything short of frost is not too cold for them ; 

 no wind is too high for them ; hardly any soil is too poor 

 for them ; but forty-eight hours' neglect of watering, when 

 they want it, destroys them. They strike from cuttings 

 under a bell-glass, in pots of well-drained, firmly -pressed 

 sandy peat, covered by half an inch of clean silver sand, the 

 bell-glasses being lifted frequently, wiped dry, and then re- 

 placed. The cuttings should be the tops of the moderately 

 strong-growing shoots, taken about an inch long. When 

 struck they require potting in a soil composed of three parts 

 turfy peat, rubbed through a coarse sieve, and one part clean 

 silver sand, well mixed together some time before being used. 

 Pot the young plant no deeper than it was when in the cut- 

 ting-pot ; shift it when its roots fill the pot ; water always 

 with rain water, or, for want of that, soft river water. Mil- 

 dew is the greatest enemy of Heaths, to avoid which permit 

 a free circulation of air about them at all times, night and 

 day, and give every plant plenty of room — as much all 

 around its branches as it occupies. At each successive re- 

 potting keep the collar of the plant quite level with the 

 surface — rather higher than lower. A common frame and 

 light, placed on a hard dry foundation, are just the quarters 

 they like ; but they must be kept from damp, and daily exa- 

 mined with respect to their want of water. The soil ought 

 not to be too wet ; but soil too dry is nearly certain de- 

 struction. The plants should riot be shifted into larger pots 

 until the others are tolerably filled with roots. All the kinds 

 are beautiful, and the varieties are so numerous that it would 

 be impracticable within our limits to give a satisfactory de- 

 scription of them. 



