1102 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



hours in the heat of the day, if there happen to be much sun at the time. 

 This shading should only be continued till the young plants are enabled to 

 bear the full heat of the sun. The soil for the first potting should be one 

 half peat and one half sand, always taking care to drain the pots well with 

 small pieces of broken pots or cinders. The second potting must depend 

 much on the season of the year : if the first potting is done in the spring, the 

 second should be performed as soon as the young roots appear round the 

 inside of the pots ; but, if the first potting is in the summer, then the second 

 will not be necessary till the following spring. The soil for the second potting 

 should be about two thirds peat and one third sand ; and in all the after- 

 pottings the soil should be the same as recommended below." (Treatise on 

 Cape Heaths, &c., p. 14.) 



The soil most suitable for Cape heaths, according to Mr. M'Nab, is black 

 peat, " taken from a dry heath, or common, which is never overflowed with 

 water. In general, it should not be taken off more than 5 in. or 6 in. 

 deep. This, however, must partly depend on the subsoil; for, in some cases, 

 at 12 in. or 14 in. deep, the soil is quite as good as at the surface. What- 

 ever heath, or other vegetable production, is on the surface, should be taken 

 along with the peat earth to the compost ground, and there laid up in a 

 heap till wanted. It frequently happens that peat earth, taken from such 

 situations, has sand intermixed with it in its original state ; but, where this is 

 not the case, a quantity of coarse white sand should be procured, and mixed 

 with the earth in the compost ground. This should be, at least, to the extent 

 of one fourth or one fifth of the whole: and, if it exceed this quantity, it will 

 not be found injurious to the health of the plant." Mr. M'Nab prefers " a 

 coarse white sand, when it can be procured ; but, when that cannot be had, 

 any coarse pit or river sand will answer equally well ; and, if an opportunity 

 should offer of procuring sand from a freestone quarry, or from the hewings 

 of sand stones used in buildings, that may be substituted ; but, in either case, 

 the sand should be free from irony matter. When the earth and sand are 

 properly mixed, the compost is fit for use." (Treatise, &c., p. 16.) Whether 

 compost for heaths or other plants should be used in a recent state, or after 

 it has lain a year or two in the compost ground, and been frequently turned 

 over, is a point on which cultivators differ in opinion. In the case of the 

 compost which Mr. M'Nab recommends for heaths, he has found no difference 

 whether it was used immediately when brought from the common, or after it 

 had lain some time, and been turned over and mixed for years. Mr. M'Nab has 

 grown, in this soil, in tubs, 3 ft. over, the freer-growing heaths, such as Syringo- 

 dea (-E.) Ewerawfl, bietina, vestita coccinea, grandiflora, Bonplandmwa, &c., 

 to the height of 8 ft, ; the plants being bushy in proportion, and, when in 

 flower, covered with blossoms from the edge of the tub to the top of the plant. 

 A small quantity of manure (viz. about one eighth part of rotten cow-dung) is 

 frequently added by Mr. M'Nab to the above compost ; which shows, contrary 

 to the opinion of some, that, like other plants, heaths are capable of being fed, 

 artificially, with food containing animal matter. Mr. M'Nab has also tried 

 liquid manure ; but he is " unable to give particular directions " as to the pro- 

 portions in which it should be used. Besides manure, which Mr. M'Nab adds 

 occasionally, he considers it a great advantage to introduce into the soil con- 

 siderable quantities of coarse soft freestone, broken into pieces of from 1 in. 

 to 4 in. or 5 in. in diameter. The quantity of stone which he introduces will, 

 he says, " in most cases, if broken down into sand, and added to the sand 

 previously in the soil, form about one third part of the whole mass." The 

 reason given by Mr. M'Nab for introducing the stone is extremely ^interesting 

 and important ; and, like every line in his most valuable treatise, it ought to 

 sink deep into the mind of the young and thinking gardener : " When 

 stones are mixed with the earth in the way above recommended, heaths 

 will never suffer so much in the summer from occasional neglect in watering 

 them, as they would do if the stones were not made use of; because these 

 stones retain the moisture longer than the earth, and, in the winter, they allow 



