r 



.I.W) .l.^^l/, i'.V/.V Ol- PLANTS. 



shaded nooks; Festuca c<eca, which is a fine ornamental grass for pots or vases, and con- 

 trasts well with the Holcus lanatus, or Velvet-Grass, which is of a silvery appearance and 

 not unlike the common ribbon-grass of our gardens, but of finer texture. These four 

 Grasses which we have singled out form a neat little collection for indoor culture when 

 grown together, even without any admixture with other plants. A generally acceptable 

 soil for the growth of nearly all Grasses, is made up of equal parts of cow-manure, leaf- 

 mold, loam and sand well mixed; and all Grasses like water, but not stagnant moisture. 



i:iiELL known tooi; 



widely spread in 



the Heaths ha\ c 



although it is nc 



natives of this count 



II t: A T US. 



Anglo-.S;i 

 the counti 



terature, because indigenous and 

 lere that literature had its rise, 

 •nltivated in the United States, 

 It twenty-six of the genera are 

 s scientificallv called Ericaceje, 



The ordt 

 from Erica, the Heath proper, the accepted type of the family. There 

 are five or more suborders, perhaps seventy genera, and about eleven hiuidred 

 species, besides uncounted varieties. Erica carnea, fleshy Heath, so called on 

 account of its flesh-colored bloom, and Erica Mediterranea, or Heath of the 

 Mediterranean, whose bloom is of a somewhat darker flesh-color, are cultivated 

 florists and others, and are much valued as exotics. They make desir- 

 able window plants if plentifully supplied with moisture and protected from 

 excessive heat, whether artificial or natural. The more common indigenous sorts are the 

 Kalmia, or .Sheep Laurel ; the Azalea arborescens (Tree-like Azalea), or False Honey- 

 suckle; the Rhododendron, or Rosebay; the Rhodora Canadensis, or Canadian Rhodora; 

 the Ledum latifolium, or Broad-leaved Labrador Tea; the Andromeda in several species; 

 the Vaccinium in a large number of species, known in the vernacular as Blueberry, Cran- 

 berry, etc.; Gaylussacia, or Huckleberry; and the Pyrola, or False Wintergreen. 



All these members of the Ericaceas family are of easy culture, hut, being originally 

 natives of bogs, downs and sheltered mountain dells, they grow best on northern slopes, 

 behind fences or evergreens, or otherwise protected from the noonday sun as well as from 

 drying winds. Like the Begonias, they delight in a steady supply of uniform moisture. 

 The fibrous rootlets are very fine, and extremely sensitive to deleterious substances, such 

 as clods of half-rotted manure, lumps of clayey, uncongenial soils, and the like. 



The best compost for their growth is three parts leaf-mold, one of sharp sand, one 

 of common earth, and one of well-rotted manure. Commonly growing upon a sub- 

 stratum of freestone, a limestone or other calcareous subsoil is hurtful, and the application 

 of lime-water is accordingly found to be pernicious; hence rainwater should alone be used. 

 An occasional dose of liquid manure will prove acceptable to these plants when in flower 

 or when making a new growth. The Ledums, Kalmias, the small plants of the best 

 varieties of the Rhododendron, the Azalea nudiflora, and other dwarf members of the 

 family, besides the two imported species already mentioned, make pretty house plants. 



400 





