THE HARDY HEATH. 63 



in seed-pans, as for Heaths, &c. Fill a pan with good 

 sandy fine peat, make the soil firm, and water it ; let it 

 stand for an hour, sow the seed, and cover it as thick 

 as a sixpence, and no more. Set the pan in a propa- 

 gating-house, and cover it with a bell-glass, handlight, 

 or lay a flat square of glass over it. 



By Layers. — This is the most successful way 

 to multiply the Andromeda. In the month of 

 September or October lay down some of the outer 

 branches in the ground, trimming off the leaves, 

 &c, that are to be buried. Set the branches in 

 the soil, which must be peat, 3 or 4 inches, cover the 

 part, bringing the ends of the branches upright out of 

 the ground, and press the soil moderately firm on the 

 buried part. Let them remain for twelve months, when 

 the layers will all be rooted, then remove them, and 

 plant them out into beds 1 foot G inches by 1 foot 

 asunder. The soil must be peat. 



The Hardy Heath. 



All the hardy Heaths are most desirable and useful 

 plants. Considering the beauty of this tribe, the hard- 

 ness of their constitution, their remarkable capacity for 

 usefulness, and their cheapness, I am totally at a 

 loss to conceive why they are so little used as permanent 

 ornaments of our parterres. I know of nothing as 

 dwarf flowering and permanent hardy shrubs so well 

 worthy of a place in every well-devised pleasure-garden. 

 All that is required is a dry subsoil, and a compost of 

 sandy peat and maiden loam. Bough stones may be 

 used to secure a dry subsoil : a foot or 20 inches of 

 these put in the bottom of the bed, with a foot of peat, 

 rough maiden loam, and turf, all chopped up with the 

 spade, will grow Heaths well. 



The Erica vulgaris forms one of the most beautiful 

 beds possible, and for rockwork it is a splendid object. 

 So are E. cinerea purpurea and numbers besides, all of 

 which are hardy. 



The propagation of Heaths is comparatively easy. 



