'with Remarks on their Culture. 403 



November and December. 7?rica Archen'a, floribunda, gracilis, 

 caffra, grandinosa, and Persoluta. 



Having given the names of the kinds, and the order in which 

 they flower, I shall now proceed to make a few remarks on their 

 propagation, cultivation, &c. , 



For the purpose of increasing heaths, I have had an air-tight 

 box constructed, like the one described by N. M. T. in the 

 present volume, p. 21., which I find to answer the purpose ex- 

 ceedingly well. I think the best time for putting in cuttings is 

 about December, in which case they will be struck and ready 

 to be potted off in March or April ; and, after being hardened 

 by gradually inuring them to the air, they may be put into a 

 frame out of doors. Much having been written on the subject 

 of striking heaths, it would be useless for me to say much of it 

 here ; but I will make one observation, that is, the necessity of 

 sorting the cuttings into different classes ; for instance, the pine- 

 leaved ones, like E. vestita, fulgida, &c. ; the hairy ones, such as 

 E. virescens, bicolor, hirsuta, &c; and the quicker-growing ones, 

 such as E. Persoluta, ignescens, &c, should be kept separate ; 

 some of them striking in six or seven weeks, and others requiring 

 three or four months, or even more. 



After they have been hardened, they had better be removed 

 to the cold-frame, or airy green-house shelf; I should recom- 

 mend the former situation at all seasons, for heaths are not so ten- 

 der as people are apt to imagine. As a proof of this, during the 

 last two winters, they have stood uninjured with us, at St. Peter's 

 Canterbury, in a rather unhealthy situation (it being both low and 

 damp, and heaths succeeding best in a high situation and dry at- 

 mosphere), iu a common pit of 4-inch brickwork. The bottom of 

 this pit is a bed of coal-ashes, which the pots are placed on (not 

 plunged), and on the top a single mat is thrown over the glass 

 at night, and in case of very severe weather, two mats. 



After the frost ceases, if the weather is gloomy, they may be 

 entirely uncovered ; if not, it is better to let the mat remain on 

 a few days, giving the plant, at the same time, plenty of air. By 

 this means 1 have never lost a plant, young or old, in the frame; 

 while, in the green-house, plants are continually getting into an 

 unhealthy state or dying ; so that I have entirely left off keeping 

 them in the green-house, except for show, while they are in 

 flower. 



One great reason for heaths disliking a green-house is, ex- 

 cept when in a house by themselves, that the air is not 

 so pure as when in a frame out of doors, it being charged with 

 the exhalations of other plants. Again, in a green-house, the 

 pots are generally placed on a stone bench, fully exposed to the 

 scorching rays of the sun in summer, which dries them up and 

 burns their delicate roots ; and in winter, from the house being 



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