ON THE CULTURE OF ERICAS. 127 



That many of our parks, laid out in the style last alluded to, 

 are lifeless and uninteresting, must be acknowledged. In passing 

 through them, though they may have an air of grandeur suitable 

 enough for a regal or ducal palace ; yet no part of such scenery 

 would be admired by the painter, because wholy unfit for the 

 canvas. Hence it may be inferred that an English landscape 

 gardener's park may be very suitable for a residence, and yet by 

 no means equal to the beau ideal of a connoisseur, who may be 

 blessed or plagued by possessing a painter's eye. Still it is very 

 possible to bring the extremes nearer together ; to diversify and 

 enrich the naked tameness of the " capability" style ; and to soften 

 the asperities, and qualify the exuberance of imagination ob- 

 servable in some of the most celebrated paintings. J. F. 



ARTICLE II. 

 ON THE CULTIVATION OF ERICAS, 



BY TUB FOREMAN OF A LONDON NURSLRY. 



Having had considerable experience on the culture of this 

 beautiful and interesting tribe of plants, I submit the following 

 practical observations to the notice of your readers. 



Like all mountain plants, they will not long flourish in a damp 

 or impure atmosphere, nor in one, however dry, if excluded from 

 a free circulation of air, and full exposure to solar light. It fol- 

 lows, therefore, that in the selection of a proper habitation for 

 them, one fully exposed to the sun, and in a perfectly dry situa- 

 tion, and constructed so that the plants may stand near the glass, 

 capable at the same time of ventilation to the fullest extent, with 

 the front and roof sashes rendered moveable when required, will 

 be the most proper habitation for them. 



A span-roofed house upon an economical scale, is well calcu- 

 lated for the cultivation of Ericas and their near associates. The 

 whole of the side and roof sashes should be moveable, the height 

 over the passage about seven feet, and the width eighteen, allow- 

 ing three feet for each passage, three feet for the breadth of each 

 of the front platforms, and five feet for the centre one, on which 

 the largest plants are intended to stand. The top part of the 

 roof should be covered with boarding of one foot from each side 

 of the ridge. This is to support an awning of canvas, mounted 

 on rollers, to exclude the cold during intense frost, and enable 



