ON THE CULTURE OF ERICAS. 129 



two-thirds with broken pots, small stones or cinders. The soil 

 used should be of the sort called very sandy peat. The seeds 

 should be sown on the surface, (which must be made smooth and 

 level,) and scarcely covered at all. When sown, watering should 

 be regularly attended to, and applied with the finest rose pot. 

 They should be placed in a cool, shaded frame, under glass, or 

 plunged in a rather damp border, where the sun seldom shines, 

 and covered with a hand glass. In such a situation water should 

 be seldom applied, because the seeds being so minute, they are 

 liable to be washed off in the process, and therefore, the less 

 frequently they are watered the better. As the young plants 

 appear, air should be progressively admitted to them, and every 

 precaution now taken to guard against damp, an excess of which, 

 as well as an excess of drouth, would be equally fatal to them in 

 this state. When the plants have attained the height of one inch 

 or so, they may be transplanted into small thumb t pots, placing 

 three, four, or five in each, as near to the edge of the pot as pos- 

 sible. From some cause, not easily explained, we find that 

 young plants and cuttings root faster when placed in close contact 

 with the sides of the pots in which they are planted, than when 

 they are placed more towards the centre. After this first potting, 

 they should be kept for eight or ten days in a close, cool frame, 

 or pit, shading them from the sun in the middle of the day, and 

 gradually exposing them to the air, until they are found to be so 

 established as to stand the full heat of the sun. The greatest 

 attention must be paid to a regular system of watering, for if 

 they be allowed to become too dry, they will die off in a few 

 hours time, and if kept too wet, they will damp off in an equally 

 short period. 



Almost all will strike root by cuttings ; some sorts, however, 

 requiring a longer period to do so than others. The most eligible 

 wood for this purpose is the young wood of the present year's 

 growth, when it becomes partially hardened, so as not to be 

 liable to damp off. It would be impossible to convey an idea to 

 the uninitiated, of the proper state that the wood should'be in for 

 this purpose, but the cultivator who knows anything of the matter, 

 will readily understand me when I say, the wood should be fully 

 matured, but before it had attained its dark colour, and to be, 

 when slightly pressed between the finger and thumb, somewhat 

 firm, but neither yielding to the touch nor yet quite hard. In 

 regard to the length of the cuttings, much depends on the habit 



Vol. VII. No. 76. q 



