Stove and Greenhouse Plants and Flowers 173 



from 9s. to 18s. per dozen. If hardened off before sale, the plants last 

 fairly well and will not drop the lower leaves. Older and bigger plants 

 are useful for subtropical bedding during the summer months. 



Heaths or Ericas. Many thousands of Heaths are sold annually 

 during the winter season, the demand apparently being as great now as 

 ever. At one time no Heath was ever sent to market in any pot smaller 

 than a 5-in. one or 48, and it took three seasons to grow. Now, however, 

 tiny Heaths may be seen in flower in pots from 2 in. in diameter and 

 upwards pretty bushy little plants that command a ready sale. The 



varieties mostly grown in a small state 

 are Erica caffra, E. gracilis and its 

 variety nivalis, E. melanthera, and E. 

 persoluta. These make bushy specimens, 

 covered with bloom, and realize from 

 3s. 6d. per dozen upwards in the smaller 

 sizes. Thousands of plants are sold in 

 5-in. pots, chiefly of E. gracilis and E. 

 hyemalis the last-named (fig. 281) being 

 particularly handsome with its white 

 and rosy-pink tubular flowers. In the 

 variety alba they are almost pure white. 

 Good specimens usually fetch from 10s. 

 to 12s. per dozen in 5-in. pots. E. mel- 

 anthera, which has globular pinkish 

 flowers with black anthers, usually 

 realizes higher prices, but is not so ex- 

 tensively grown. Other kinds of Heaths 

 met with in smaller quantities are E. 

 Willmorei, which resembles E. hyemalis 

 in appearance, but usually flowers later; 

 E. candidissima, dwarf growing, with 

 white bell-shaped flowers; E. ventricosa, 

 a fine bushy species, having flowers vary- 

 ing from white to red; and E. Caven- 

 dishiana, a strong-growing kind with yellow flowers. 



The kinds mentioned are all propagated from cuttings. These are 

 taken from the tops of the young half-ripened shoots, generally in spring, 

 and are usually inserted in 5-in. pots. These are carefully drained by 

 filling about two-thirds with crocks, the rougher ones being at the bottom. 

 Over the crocks is placed a layer of fibrous peat or moss before the layer 

 of sandy peat. Over the sandy peat is a layer of silver sand, which brings 

 the prepared surface to within 1 in. of the rim. The cuttings are taken 

 off with scissors or a keen -edged propagating knife, and are inserted 

 in. deep and about J in. apart. In this way the tops are lower 



Fig. 281. Erica hyemalis 



about 



than the rim of the 5-in. pot, which will hold about 200 cuttings. The 

 older Heath propagators, after gently watering the cuttings and allowing 



