HEATHS. 



607 



also made out of this useful substance, and along 

 with dried peat it constitutes the sole material 

 for fuel. In many parts of Scotland, and the 

 Western islands, a decoction of the gvcen tops 

 and flowers of the heather is employed for dying 

 yarn of a yellow colour, and woollen cloth, boiled 

 first in alum water and afterwards in a strong 

 decoction of heath tops, comes out of a fine deep 

 orange colour. Leather is also tanned by a 

 decoction of this plant; Boethius mentions that 

 the ancient Picts employed the young heather 

 shoots and flowers for the manufacture of beer, 

 and this practice has even come down to the 

 present time, although it is more rarely used now 

 than formerly. The flower, however, contains a 

 large quantity of saccharine matter, so that bees 

 which are reared in the moors produce an abun- 

 dance of a highly flavoured honey; cattle are fed 

 upon the tender shoots of the heath, although it 

 is said that cows not previously accustomed to 

 this food are so affected by its stimulating qua- 

 lity, as to yield at first a bloody milk; but habit 

 and drinking plentifully of water soon cures 

 this. 



Sheep and goats also feed on heath, but 

 they are not particularly fond of it; grouse 

 almost entirely live on the seeds and flowers and 

 tender tops of the heath, and in order that a 

 constant supply may be afforded them through- 

 out the year, the seed vessel is so formed and 

 protected as to remain in its pericarp for twelve 

 months, or even longer. Other birds find food 

 and shelter in the thick covering of the heath, 

 and the leaves are preyed upon by the great egg 

 moth, ( phalcsna quercus ) . There are three spe- 

 cies of heath common in this country; the com- 

 mon, (e. imlgaris) the fine leaved, (e. cinerea) 

 and the crossleaved, (e. tetralix); both the latter 

 Iiave ovate bell-shaped corollas, and of the three 

 there are two varieties, a white and red flow- 

 ered. 



These, with one or two other species found in 

 other parts of Europe, were all that were known 

 till within the last fifty or sixty years. But 

 when the Cape of Good Hope came into the pos- 

 session of the British, a number of rare and 

 beautiful species of this gemis became known, 

 and were speedily introduced into Europe. It 

 may serve as an easily recollected date to say, 

 that all of them were sent home during the reign 

 of George III., and that we owe their introduc- 

 tion to the industry of Mr F. Masson, a zealous 

 botanist.* The culture of exotic heaths has 

 been carri-ed to a high degree of perfection in 

 Britain. It was first practised to any great 

 extent in the nursery of Hammersmith, and soon 

 spread among the enterprising gardeners of Eng- 

 land and Scotland. In the Botanic garden of 

 Edinburgh, under the judicious management of 



* London Encyclopedia of Botany. 



Mr Macnab, is one of the finest collections of 

 exotic heaths in Britain. 



The native soil of the heaths is peat, and this 

 is to be employed in their artificial culture. If 

 any substitute can be formed for this, it is leaf 

 mould sifted very fine, and mixed with sand. 

 Earth of peat is obtained by collecting peats from 

 bogs or turf from the surface of peat wastes and 

 moist places, and laying a layer of peats or turfs 

 in a heap to rot and moulder into earth. This 

 they will require several years to do, but in the 

 meanwhile a portion of mould may be obtained 

 whenever it is wanted, by burning the turfs, 

 and sifting the fragments. Sometimes this peat 

 is found without any admixture of sand, at other 

 times when streams have run into the bog or lake 

 while the peat was forming, it is mixed with fine 

 sand that had been held suspended in the water. 

 This last is reckoned the best for heaths, and 

 therefore where peat is not s;indy naturally, fine 

 white sand, or sand of any colour, provided it be 

 not deep red, and tinged with oxide of iron, 

 should be procured and mixed with it. This 

 sand admits the water to penetrate into the soil 

 and reach the roots of the plants, and also to 

 drain away the moisture so as not to rot the 

 roots. Pots filled with pure peat earth are apt 

 to be either hard, dry, and impenetrable to water, 

 or otherwise as wet as a saturated sponge. The 

 free growing species should have rather large 

 pots filled with good black peat, the dwarf and 

 hardier wooded kinds require a good admixture 

 of sand, with a, smaller pot, well drained with 

 pieces of broken potsherds and rough bits of turfy 

 peat. They also require less water than the free 

 growing kinds, as their native habitat at the Cape 

 is the summits and sides of the mountains, and in 

 the crevices of rocks, and a scanty and sandy soil. 

 Heath plants do not require a warm climate 

 in winter, nor indeed at any season ; if the frost 

 is excluded, this is all that is necessary. Some 

 species even will do to have the ground frozen 

 about the roots without sustaining injury, pro- 

 vided it is not thawed in the sun, or too sud- 

 denly, or in a very wai-m temperature. In gen- 

 eral the heaths may be kept in the coldest part 

 of the greenhouse, and those not in flower in 

 pits well protected by matting during the night, 

 or with prepared covering of mat or straw. Too 

 much fire-heat in winter will hurt them as much 

 HS any thing, as they only require to be kept 

 from the frost ; most of the kinds might be pre- 

 served through the winter in frames, the only 

 difficulty is to keep them from too much wet. 

 They all require a great deal of air and light, and 

 therefore should be placed near the glass, and 

 near such glass as may be opened to admit air 

 every mild day in the year. They also require 

 to be regularly supplied with water, not much 

 at a time, but so frequently that the earth may 

 never get dry, or the plant droop. Many kinds 



