42 FAMILIAH GARDEy^ FLOIVERS. 



E. Wilmoreana, which is much like it^ but of a more 

 herbaceous character^ and produces larger flowers ; and 

 E. gracilis, the tiny flowers of which are produced in light 

 clusters^ the colour clear carmine-tinted rose, or rose-tinted 

 purjjle. These three are the most familiar, because the 

 most useful, of the winter-flowering heaths ; they are to be 

 seen everywhere, but nobody has a Avord to say for them, 

 because they are " common/'' 



Amateurs with a fancy for first-class plant growing 

 may be advised to take these in hand for preliminary 

 lessons in the management of heaths in general. That it 

 requires some skill to manage even these cheap things is 

 made evident by the fate which befalls about ninety-nine 

 of every hundred plants sold in the market. It is not 

 needful to pronounce the word. Let us deal with the 

 hundredth plant that escapes the common doom, and 

 having kept it alive, let us learn to flower it again and 

 again, and to promote its growth to fine projiortions. 



Inexperienced persons who purchase these jjlants are 

 apt to imagine that periodical watering should suffice to 

 keep them alive for ever. But it does not suffice, as the 

 facts eventually prove. One of the most important points 

 in the management of all such plants is to re-pot them 

 annually, so that every year they have the advantage of 

 fresh soil to grow in. The treatment of one will be the 

 same as for a hundred, and we will take one and briefly 

 describe the routine of cultivation. It has flowered and is 

 in perfect health, and will not flower again for a whole 

 year. We must ha\'e ready a little turfy peat, of a brownish 

 colour, and this must be chopped or torn up and mixed 

 with about one-fourth of its bulk of silver sand or any 

 sharp pit sand that is handy. Turn the plant oirt of the 



