302 Bicton Gardens, their Culture and Management. 



kind. The cause of mildew is nothing but drought and poverty ; 

 dry at bottom, foggy and damp at top, will soon stock a house 

 full of plants with mildew. Sulphur dusted on them in a proper 

 manner will certainly cleanse them of that pest for a time ; but 

 what is the preventive ? not sifted earth with the stones picked 

 out, I am perfectly satisfied. No, the stones are good. 



I found a very good collection of ericas at Bicton gardens : 

 the generality of them tall naked plants, many of them 5 ft., 

 6 ft., and even 7 ft. high, with five or six great hazel and ash 

 stakes thrust into the pots to hold them up, and tied, in some 

 instances, with matting as wide as my finger ; many of them 

 smothered with mildew, more particularly one large MassomV, 

 which was completely scorched up with it, and to all appearance 

 dead. By continual perseverance with sulphur, I got completely 

 rid of that pest. The whole of them being potted to such an 

 unreasonable height above the rim of the pot, and the pot filled 

 entirely to the rim, it was impossible to get them moist. Al- 

 though the surface of the ball of earth was covered with green 

 moss, the earth underneath was a complete dust. This is the 

 very way in which ericas are lost. I have observed it myself 

 in the countenance of many collections. I am a great advocate 

 for potting not only ericas high, but every hard-wooded plant ; 

 but not to such an unreasonable and unnatural height as that 

 one would suppose they were hung up to dry to make fuel of. My 

 own maxim is, with a No. 32. pot, for the collar of the plant to be 

 elevated above the rim of the pot about 2 in. on an average ; a 

 No. 2. about 4 in. : of course the other-sized pots in proportion, 

 and when shifted into large tubs allowing a little more. Surely 

 nature never taught us to stick them up to the unreasonable 

 height of 10 or 12 inches above the rim of a No. 8. pot : if so, what 

 utility can the pot be ? The expense of the pot might well be 

 dispensed with, if they could be made to thrive that Avay. I 

 took a bit of stiff wire larger than my pen, and thrust into the 

 balls of earth to allow the water to pass: but, finding I could 

 not get the ball of dust moist, I took a hammer and an iron 

 wedge, and drove the wedge in to make holes. I then put a 

 quantity of broken stones and pebbles into these holes ; scraped 

 off the moss ; got a quantity of tough rooty heath soil, cut 

 it as I required it with my bench hatchet, and pegged it all 

 over the surface, thrusting plenty of stones, pebbles, &c., between 

 the sods ; and, routing out 2 in. with a crooked piece of iron all 

 round the rim of the pots, I filled up the cavity with stones. I 

 very soon had the pleasure of seeing a complete wig of white 

 fibrous roots all through the sods and amongst the stones. I 

 then prepared for fresh-potting them, which was done in the 

 following manner : — 



By turning them out of the pots, and chopping off two thirds 



