210 M'Nab' s Cape Heaths. 



D. purpurea. 

 (The male parent.) 

 Large, cernuous. 

 More spreading. 



Broader. 



D. hy'brida. 



D. Lt/VEA. 



(The female parent.) 

 Small, more drooping. 

 Less spreading, at length 



more closed. 

 Narrower. 



(The offspring.) 

 Flowers, medium size, nearly horizontal. 

 Calyx, moderately spreading in flower, after- 

 wards connivent. 

 Sepals, ovato-lanceolate, the odd one much nar- 

 rower. 



More hairy , hairy on the margin. Less hairy. 



Purple. " Corolla, yellow ground, tinted with red. Yellow. 



And in this manner through all the parts : and the parts and dissections 

 on one of the plates are displayed in the same three-columned conspective 

 manner. Likenesses and differences are by this mode of arrangement ren- 

 dered instantly and palpably obvious; and it was anxiety to attain this 

 point which led the able author of Dendrologia Britannica to adopt the 

 peculiar and remotely similar mode of describing in detail which that 

 really meritorious work exhibits. In conclusion, we have only to say, we 

 have had the pleasure of cultivating a hybrid, very similar to that which 

 forms the subject of Professor Henslow's pamphlet, and that that hybrid, 

 like his, was altogether barren of seeds. — J. D. 



M'Nab, William, Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 

 A.L.S. C.M.H.S. &c. : Author of " Hints on the Treatment of Hardy 

 Evergreens : " A Treatise on the Propagation, Cultivation, and general 

 Treatment of Cape Heaths, in a Climate where they require Protection 

 during the Winter Months. 8vo, pp. 44<, with a beautiful coloured en- 

 graving of .Erica aristata. Clark, Edinburgh ; Treuttel and Wiirtz, Lon- 

 don; 1832. 2s. 6d. 



We have read through this pamphlet, and shall offer no analysis of it ; 

 for this, besides occupying more space than we can spare, would be only 

 acceptable to cultivators of this charming genus, and every one of these 

 should procure and possess the work. It contains no specious theorising, 

 but is a straightforward narrative of the results of the writer's long and 

 extensive practical experience in his remarkably successful cultivation of 

 this most charming genus. 



Mr. M'Nab deserves the hearty thanks of all who are interested in the 

 promotion of floriculture, for having shown so clearly by what simple 

 means the Cape heaths can be grown healthily and vigorously, and there- 

 fore satisfactorily. A feeling of misery is ever associated by a sight of sickly 

 exotics ; and one tuft of native heather, luxuriating in health and beauty, 

 is a far more pleasing object than a house full of such ; but how delightful 

 must be the sight of Mr. M'Nab's collection when the majority of species 

 is in bloom ! They seem unafflicted by sickness and debility. " There 

 are," says he, "in the Botanic Garden, at Edinburgh, heaths 8 ft. high, in 

 tubs 3 ft. over; and the plants are both bushy in proportion to their height, 

 and in great vigour ; and these, when in flower, are covered with blossoms 

 from the edge of the tubs to the top of the plants. These are, however, 

 the freer-growing kinds, such as Erica Ewer/«««, Bonpland/«;z«, dbietina, 

 vestita coccinea, grandiflora, &c." The book is indeed cheap. — J. D. 



Since the preceding notice was written, a valued correspondent has sup- 

 plied the following remarks. They corroborate our own, and also take 

 additional views : — 



It may justly be said of Mr. M'Nab, " that he is a man of that stamp 

 that would not write on any department of gardening, unless he could 

 show the good effects of it in his own practice;" a compliment which he 

 is pleased to pay (p. 7.) to Mr. Walter Henderson, gardener at Woodhall. 

 To the justice of this remark the beautiful heaths at the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens of Edinburgh bear ample testimony. From some supposed dif- 

 ficulty in the proper treatment of heaths, that beautiful family of plants 

 has certainly not met with the general encouragement which their splen- 

 dour, and simple and cheap mode of culture, seem to warrant. The 

 excellent little treatise now before us will, we doubt not, soon prove the 

 means of exciting a taste for, and of extending the culture of, the heaths 



