CULTIVATION IN AMERICA. 



the Southern home of Mr. George W. Vanderbilt. 

 The plants appear to thrive well, evidently finding 

 congenial conditions in this lovely mountainous district 

 of the sunny Southland. 



It may be well to state, however, that attempts 

 have been made to grow the Heather in gardens in 

 several other parts of the United States, with vary- 

 ing degrees of success. At Glen Cove, Long Island, 

 a variety of Calluna vulgaris (Alporti) succumbed 

 to the hard winter, the stems splitting just above the 

 surface of the ground. 



In the Botanic Garden at Washington, the su- 

 perintendent of which is a Scotsman, Mr. Wm. 

 R. Smith, Heather has a hard struggle for existence. 

 There it is grown in a cold frame, in pots, covered 

 with a sash in winter, and with lath slats in summer. 

 It has been tried there in the open border and in 

 the rock garden, but all to no purpose. When a dry 

 spell, with hot weather, came along, the plants could 

 not withstand these conditions, and so perished. 



When the statue was erected to the poet Burns 

 in Washington Park, at Albany, N. Y., Mr. Peter 

 Kinnear, a prominent Scotch citizen there, procured 

 some plants of Heather from Mr. Smith at Wash- 

 ington to be placed around the base of the statue. 

 The plants arrived in the fall, were put in a cold 

 frame, and the following spring, as soon as the flower 

 buds began to swell, were taken up and planted. 



The statue faces south, is in the open, and re- 

 ceives the full strength of the sun for the greater 

 part of the day. The soil was specially prepared for 

 the plants, stiff, clayey loam being thrown out, good 



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