THE HEATHER IN AMERICA. 



Halifax has had the good fortune to bring to light 

 a new locality from the Island of Cape Breton. The 

 flowering- specimen which Professor Lawson sent us 

 was collected on the 3Oth of August last, "in a wet, 

 spongy place, among spruce stumps, in a peaty soil, 

 overlying clay, on the farm of Mr. Robertson, St. 

 Ann's, Inverness Co., Cape Breton Island." He states 

 that "it has been known there for ten years, having 

 been noticed by a Highlander when mowing, who im- 

 mediately ran to his master, Mr. Robertson, exclaim- 

 ing, 'I have found Heather.' Full inquiry into the 

 whole circumstance leads me to the belief that the 

 Calluna has not been planted at St. Ann's, but is a 

 genuine native. There is only a small patch of it, 

 not much more than a yard across. Its surroundings 

 at St. Ann's are most appropriate. Both in scenery 

 and vegetation there is a striking resemblance to the 

 Scotch Highlands. Gaelic is the common language, 

 and all the genuine manners and customs of the High- 

 lands are there." 



It is interesting to note that the Heather appears 

 to be even more restricted in this new station than 

 that at Tewksbury, Mass., the indigenous character 

 of which it helps to establish. We may now fairly 

 infer that the Heather once flourished throughout our 

 Eastern borders, from Massachusetts to Newfound- 

 landj but it is verging to extinction, not being able 

 to compete here with the rival claimants of the boggy 

 soil. 



Other contributions on the subject appearing in the 

 journal named are : 



42 



