340 Foreign J\otices. — England. 



to keep their heaths healthy, after they have grown above nine 

 inches or a foot in heio^ht, may wonder how such perfect phints have 

 been obtained. It will not perhaps be foreign to the object of this 

 report, to insert a hint or two concerning the practice of the most 

 successful cultivators. 



"The soil employed is not reduced to a fine state, or sifted, but is 

 just roughly separated, and all the fibre retained. Indeed that kind 

 of heath mould which contains a large quantity of fibre is preferred. 

 By these means, that close coalescence and hardening of the earth 

 which oppose the percolation of water, and are thus iiistrunjental in 

 killing the rnajor'ity of heaths that are annually lost, can be nearly 

 obviated; and, to realize more thoroughly the same end, small frag- 

 ments of porous, broken stone are mixed with the soil. The use of 

 such auxiliaries is to render the earth constantly open, while they 

 also serve themselves as reservoirs of moisture, during periods of 

 temporary drought. Through their introduction, likewise, the cultu- 

 rist is enabled to afford a larger pot than he otherwise would, thus 

 allowing them an approximation, at least, to the benefits of being 

 planted in an unlimited bed or boi-der. The next great point is to 

 make them bushy, and induce their branches to cover the vyhole 

 surface of the pot, or even to hang down over its sides; and this not 

 merely for appearance' sake, but in order to shelter tlie soil and 

 roots from the scorching rays of the sun. With most species, an 

 early and oft repeated reduction of the shoots is the method by which 

 bushiness is attained; though there are some kinds that will not bear 

 this, or will endure liut little of it. For the last named, it is neces- 

 sary that the branches be spread out, and fastened to a wire frame, 

 or to stakes, from the first, directing the lowermost ones, originally, 

 into a horizontal or half pendent position. It is of the greatest 

 moment, that both the stopping and training should be begun while 

 the plant is very young and small, and be followed up as occasion 

 may arise. Again, heaths in pots suffer much from aridity in summer, 

 and this is materially aggravated by their being placed on an elevat- 

 ed stage in a light green-house. Hence, the best growers transfer 

 them to pits or frames, which have apertures beneath for the admis- 

 sion of air from below, and in which a moist atmosphere is more 

 easily preserved. From these frames the lights are often removed 

 altogether in the day, and a canvass screen substituted for them. 

 Shade and a freer current of air are thus produced. Sometimes, as 

 was the case with one of the collections shown on Saturday lust, the 

 pot containing each specimen is put within another and larger pot, 

 and the space between filled with sand, moss, or light earth, which, 

 being kept always moist, has a cooling and invigorating effect on the 

 roots of the plant. Where frames are made use of however, so 

 troublesome a process is wholly needless. Besides the advantages 

 of frames already mentioned, they tend, with little short of certainty, 

 to prevent the occurrence of mildew — that strange and often unavoid- 

 able pest to cultivators, who have nothing but green-houses. Facts 

 lead to a belief, if not to the positive assurance, that mildew on 

 heaths is caused by a close and dry air; consequently, the more 

 humid atmosphere of frames may be the means of preventing it. At 

 any rate, it scarcely ever appears on plants grown in frames. 



