ON CAPE HEATHS. 



but daily examined, at the end of which time the seeds may he 

 expected to have vegetated ; some seeds, of course, do not vegetate so 

 soon as others, therefore the pots should still be carefully attended 

 to; but after three months or little more, all hopes of their vegeta- 

 tion may be given up. As soon as the seeds begin to vegetate, the 

 frame should have a little air admitted to prevent damp, and this 

 should be increased as the young seedlings gain a little strength. 

 Whenever the plants are sufficiently large to bear handling without 

 injury, they should be potted out into small sized pots, well drained, 

 always putting five or six into the same pot, particularly near the 

 edge. In taking the young plants out of the seed-pot, great care is 

 necessary that they be not injured; and when the whole (or as 

 many as is wanted) is thus potted, they should be very carefully 1 

 watered with a fine rose watering-pot, and then kept for ten days or 

 a fortnight in a close shady place, after winch they should be placed 

 upon shelves in the heath-house or greenhouse, as near the glass as 

 possible, that they may enjoy plenty of light and air. Here they 

 should be shaded for a few hours in the heat of the day, if there 

 happen to be much sun at the time. In this state they are to stand 

 till the spring, and to be regularly watered, and kept free of damp, 

 which at this season is their greatest enemy. 



Propagation by Cuttings. — Cuttings of heaths may be put in at 

 any time when the young wood is taken, alter it has become suffi- 

 ciently firm so as to prevent its damping off; many of the sorts will 

 be in a proper slate in the months of May, June, and July. The 

 length of the cuttings must depend on the habit of the species of 

 some of the free growing sorts, thty may be about an inch and a 

 half long; and from others that are of a more stinted growth, they 

 may not exceed half an inch in length, in both case* they should be 

 taken from the plant at the part where the young cutting starts from 

 the old wood ; strip off the leaves nearly half the length of the cut- 

 ting, place the cutting on the nail of the thumb, and with a sharp 

 knife cut off the small end close to the joint or place where it was 

 pulled off the plant. The pots for the reception of the cuttings 

 should he about eight inches in diameter at the mouths, they should 

 be filled at least five inches with broken pots, the upper part of which 

 should be of a smaller size than those below, over which should be 

 placed a thin layer of fog (hypnum) to prevent the mould from 

 working down among the draining. The pots should then be filled 

 to within one inch of the mouth with very sandy peat, and the re- 

 mainder filled to the level of the edge with fine sifted pit sand, and 

 the whole pressed firmly down. After being watered, the pot is then 



