Summer Management of Cape Heaths. 171 



handsome tree. The balsam or tacamahac poplar, and the On- 

 tario poplar, lately introduced, thrive well; the former resists the 

 storm admirably, and grows rapidly in all soils. 

 Poloc, Oct. 30. 1836. 



Art. VI. On the Management of Cape Heaths in the open Air 

 during the Summer Season. By John Fyffe, Gardener to the 

 Rev. W. Mansfield, at Milton Bryant, Bedfordshire. 



Having been very successful with the " Cape ^riceae " in 

 pots in the open air, I shall not, I trust, be considered intrusive 

 in forwarding to you, for the benefit of some of your numerous 

 subscribers, an account of the mode of treatment pursued by me, 

 which is as follows : — 



After first taking out all the plants that I intend from the 

 heath-house (say, at the begining of June), and removing them 

 into pots according to their size, I have a bed of cinder ashes 

 made to the depth of 12 in. or 15 in. and I then plunge the pots 

 into it up to their brims, arranging them according to the height 

 of the plants. Instead of giving large quantities of water in 

 excessively dry weather (as is sometimes done), I give a mode- 

 rate supply only ; at the same time taking care to have the cinder 

 ashes well soaked with water, which keeps the pots in a moist 

 state during the heat of the day. I find this to be much better 

 than the common mode of placing the pots out, and leaving them 

 destitute of any protection from the penetrating rays of a hot 

 sun, which must be most injurious to this very beautiful tribe of 

 plants. When the pots are exposed, in the manner above men- 

 tioned, to the heat of the sun, they become quite hot : this con- 

 sequently exhausts and dries up the soil ; and no heath whatever, 

 in this state, can recover, the fibres of the roots being so small, 

 that they lose all their vital action ; and the more you water, the 

 sooner you hasten their decay. This error many gardeners fall 

 into with respect to heaths, which are often set out, like other 

 hardy green-house plants, without sheltering them from the 

 scorching rays of the sun ; besides which, they are frequently 

 crowded too closely together, which greatly injures them, and 

 brings on that rusty and unsightly appearance so often to be met 

 with in our gardens. I would venture to suggest that the heaths 

 should never be allowed to touch each other, but that they 

 should all stand separate, in whatever form they may be placed ; 

 as, when this is the case, they cannot possibly injure each other. 



The principal rule to be observed in rearing heaths in houses 

 is, to allow at all times free circulation of air ; likewise to keep 

 the pots in a moist state ; taking care not to have them soaked 

 too much with water, nor scorched with drought. 



