O ON CAPE HEATHS. 



instead of the water being laid on by a heavy rose, as I have sometimes 

 seen, it should be done by a very fine syringe, like a shower of dew. 

 Being pressed for time, and not wishing to take up too much of 

 your valuable pages, I have put the above ideas (the result of expe- 

 rience) in as condensed a shape as possible, but I hope not too much 

 so to be understood. 



ARTICLE III.— ON THE PROPAGATION OF CAPE HEATHS. 



BY A PRACTICAL HEATH GROWER. 



A genus so interesting, and we may say so long fashionable, must 

 necessarily have early attracted the attention of plant cultivators; 

 and from the profusion of flowers which most of the species produce, 

 and their parts of generation being for the most part so perfect, we 

 need not be surprised at the many hybrids which the care or curio- 

 sity of the cultivator have produced. 



Heaths, like most other plants, propagate themselves from seed, 

 although most of those cultivated in this country have hitherto 

 originated from cuttings. A considerable portion of them ripen 

 their seeds with us, and these are annual importations of seed from 

 the Cape: particular care should therefore be taken in raising them, 

 for there is a great probability of new varieties being produced, es- 

 pecially from seeds produced in the heath houses of this country. 



Propagation from Seed. — The time we would recommend for 

 sowing heath seeds is late in February, or early in March. — By 

 sowing them at this season, we can always have the young plants 

 sufficiently strong to stand the following winter. The size of the 

 pots should be according to what quantity of seed you have to sow, 

 as we consider it best to sow only one sort in a pot. The pots should 

 be filled at least one half with broken pots, so as to have them well 

 drained. The upper part should be filled to within one-fourth of an 

 inch of the top with very sandy peat, and the surface made smooth. 

 Upon the surface so prepared, the seeds should be thinly sown regu- 

 larly all over it, and scarcely any covering put over them ; this pre- 

 caution is absolutely necessary from the circumstance that heath 

 seeds are very small, and unable to push through a deep 

 covering. The pots so sown should then be placed in a cold frame 

 under glass, where they should remain ; and if the weather should be 

 very dry and much sun, they should be shaded with a mat. This 

 shading should be continued constantly during sunshine, until the 

 plants be from half an inch to an inch high, afterwards it should 

 be gradually removed to harden them by degrees. For six or seven 

 weeks the surface of the mould must never be allowed to become dry 



