420 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



includes five or six hundred described species^ and as many vai'ieties produced 

 by cultivation, are the great ornaments of the greenhouse at a time when 

 other flowering plants are scarce ; it is therefore impossible to overrate their 

 importance, even were their delicate flowers less beautiful than they are. The 

 genus has, moreover, the advantage of furnishing plants which flower summer 

 and autumn, as well as in winter and spring. 



125 1. Heaths are propagated by cuttings fonned of the tender tops of the 

 young shoots. The cuttings should be an inch or so in length, and should be 

 tenderly used, so as to avoid bruising any part of the stem, and inserted in 

 pots or pans filled with pure white sand, moistened and firmly pressed down. 

 Having inserted the cuttings, water so as to settle the sand about the roots, 

 and having given a little time for the moisture to subside, cover them with 

 bell-glasses, pressing the edges into the sand so as completely to exclude 

 the air, only removing the glasses to wipe off accumulated moistm*e. They 

 should then be placed in the propagating-house, where there is one available, or 

 in a spent hotbed. When they begin to root, which will be seen by the starting 

 of the shoots, they should have air given daily to harden them preparatory to 

 the removal of the bell-glasses. 



1252. The soil best adapted for this plant is that obtained from a locality 

 where the wild heath grows luxuriantly, taking care it is not dug too deep : 

 the tm-f must not exceed four inches, — less rather than more ; as, if deeper 

 than that, it is more than probable that the good and nutritious upper soil 

 will become deteriorated by an admixture of inert and mischievous subsoil. 

 The summer is the proper season to procure and store up a heap which may 

 safely be used after having a summer and winter's seasoning. 



1253. The next matter of importance is the selection of healthy, dwarf- 

 growing, robust plants, taking care to avoid anything like meagre, leggy, 

 stunted plants, which might live for years, but give nothing but disappoint- 

 ment to the cultivator. 



1254. To prepare the soil for potting or shifting, it should be cut down from 

 the heap so as to disarrange it as little as possible, breaking the lumps well 

 with the back of the spade, and afterwards rubbing the soil through the 

 hands, which is far better than sifting, as it leaves more of the fibrous decom- 

 posing vegetable matter in it ; add to this one-fifth good white sand, and 

 Avell incorporate the two together. 



1255. To convert a plant into a handsome well-grown specimen ia a mode- 

 rately short space of time, thej' must have a libei'al shift. A young plant in a 

 60 or 64:-sized pot may be shifted into a 24 or '9-inch pot, taking care that plenty 

 of potsherds are used for drainage. Care must be taken that the soil is thoroughly 

 mixed, by i^ressing with the fingers in the fresh pot all round the ball of the 

 plant, so as to make it quite firm and close. After being set awaj' m a 

 cool frame or pit, let them be well watered. This is much facilitated by placing 

 a convex potsherd over it, and watering with a spout, leaving the water to 

 diffuse itself equally over the whole soil, which is a means of avoiding what 

 often occurs from watering with a rose, — viz., the surface only becoming 



