142 ALPINE PLANTS 
foliage, pretty in summer and winter alike, the Erinus, 
in rose, red, purple, and white forms, will make itself 
perfectly at home in chinks of rock-work, crannies in 
rough stone walls, or in beds of stony soil on the flat. 
A few seeds scattered in spring will suffice to establish 
the stock, and thenceforward self-sown seedlings will 
plentifully appear. The blossoms are small individually, 
but collectively are so numerous as to produce a good colour 
effect. 
EricA.—When one sees the broad expanse of heather 
that grows untended and unsheltered on many a moor 
and rough mountain side, it is pardonable to at once 
conclude that here, at any rate, is a plant that may be 
grown with the greatest possible ease, and that should 
thrive remarkably well when afforded the careful atten- 
tion we would willingly bestow upon it whilst it occupies 
a favoured spot among our most cherished plants. Fact, 
however, upsets mere calculation, and our efforts to care- 
fully attend the Ericas will but end in, and probably 
hasten, failure, if, by careful attention we mean fussing 
with the water-pot, with fertilizers, and insecticides, for 
these are just things the heather will not tolerate. There 
are two points of supreme importance that must be closely 
observed if we would establish a colony of hardy Ericas, 
the first is that they belong to that class of plants which 
require no lime, and that cannot thrive if any appreciable 
quantity of lime is in contact with their roots. Peat is 
therefore their most appropriate rooting medium, and it is, 
in fact, on peat beds those broad expanses of heather 
are found that delight us when mountaineering or 
