88 THE GREEN-HOUSE.—HEATHS. 
ing season is over, the plants are cut down, and cuttir.gs made from 
them. (See page 53.) When these have struck, they are potted in 
a compost of vegetable mould and sand, and kept in this soii till 
February or March, when they are repotted in rich soil for flower- 
ing. Some gardeners throw away the old plants as soon as they 
have made the cuttings; but others take the old plants out of their 
pots, and shaking the earth from them, cut in the roots, and repot 
the plants in smaller pots. Pelargoniums require a great deal of air; 
and when about to flower they should have a great deal of water, 
but at other seasons very little. They are killed with the slightest 
frost ; and they are very liable to damp off, if watered too much, and 
not allowed sufficient air, in winter. Air is, indeed, quite essential 
to them. The best geranium growers in or near London are Mr. 
Catleugh of Chelsea, and Mr. Gaines of Battersea. 
Heaths —The kinds grown in green-houses are all natives of the 
Cape of Good Hope, and they are very numerous; but they may be 
classed under six heads, which are named from the shape of their 
flowers. ‘These divisions are tubular shaped, ventricose, spreading 
r salver shaped, with an inflated calyx, globular, and ovate. They 
-.\l require to be potted high, and to be grown in three parts of peat- 
carth to one of fine white sand, or in what is emphatically called 
neath. mould. The fine hair-like roots of heaths cannot penetrate a 
stiff loamy soil, and manure would be too gross for their spongioles 
totake ip. The collar of the plant should always be above the 
soil, as 1 is very easily rotted by moisture. Heaths require good 
dre’ naze, and frequent waterings; and though the water should 
nzv-r be allowed to stand in the saucer, the roots should also never 
be allowed to become quite dry, as, when once withered, they can 
never be recovered. Heaths also require abundance of free air, and 
no plants are more injured by being kept in rooms. They shouid 
not be shifted oftener than once in three or four years. They are 
propagated by cuttings taken from the tips of the shoots, and then 
struck in pure white sand. The pots containing the cuttings should 
be plunged up to the rim in a hot-bed, and each should be covered 
with a bell glass. Heaths are easily killed by frost, which acts upon 
them by splitting, or rather shivering their stems. The best heaths 
near London are those of Messrs. Rollisson of Tooting; but there 
are also very good collections at Messrs. Henderson’s, Pine Appice 
Place, Lee’s, Hammersmith, and Chandler’s, Vauxhall. 
