18 FAMILIAR WILD VLOWERK. 



a Guide to Soils/' we find the heath thus referred to: 

 "When it is rank and strong-growing, it indicates deep, 

 black, mossy soil, poor, and naturally unfertile, but which, if 

 dry, and the altitude be not too great, will grow Scotch fir and 

 birch ; if wet, Scotch fir, spruce, and alder. If the heath 

 be close and healthy, and mixed with moss, tormentil, and 

 grasses, the soil is more fertile." Many of our poets refer 

 to the beauty of the heath, its effect in the landscape, 

 and its uses of various kinds. It is impossible to quote to 

 any large extent ; but any one who will turn to the writings 

 of the two great Scotchmen, Burns and Scott, will find 

 abundant references. 



" Of this, old Scotia's hardy mountaineers 

 Their rustic coaches form, and there enjoy 

 Sleep, which heneath his velvet caiiopy 

 Luxurious idleness implores in vain." 



The heath is applied to many useful purposes. Houses are 

 roofed with it instead of with thatch. In Scotland a strong 

 decoction of it is used in tanning leather, and a very re- 

 freshing drink is made by brewing together two parts of 

 heath-top to one of malt. The heath plant, too, is a good 

 deal used for making brooms, and for heating ovens, while the 

 turf, full of its fibrous and matted roots, and with the plants 

 still on it, is cut up, dried, and used as fuel by many a 

 poor cottager. Woven into a wooden framework it makes 

 a protective fencing. Neither horses nor cattle seem to 

 care for it, but in some parts of the country the old heath 

 is from time to time fired, as sheep enjoy the tender shoots 

 that afterwards spring up. This custom is referred to in 

 " Marmion." Its close and sheltering masses form a 

 home for many a wild animal, and birds and other small 

 creatures find a meal as well as a refuge in its umbrageous 



