HEATHER. 27 



the reason of this was a puzzle to us, but we afterwards 

 found, on a closer acquaintance, that this particular moun- 

 tain was almost entirely covered from head to foot with 

 heather, and that this profusion of intense colour and these 

 hundreds of thousands of small crimson bells, were, in the 

 aggregate, sufficient to suffuse the whole mountain-side 

 with a warmer glow than that of its more sparsely-covered 

 neighbours. 



Vast tracts of country in Scotland, Ireland, and 

 Wales are covered by the heath, and we meet with it 

 again in the moorland districts of Western and Northern 

 England, and the great stretches of common that are 

 so characteristic of Surrey. It grows generally with 

 the cross-leaved heath and the ling, two other species 

 which we shall hope to introduce to our readers. In 

 colour it is the richest of the three, though in grace of 

 form and delicacy of tint the cross-leaved heath, Erica 

 tetralix, is a close rival. All three species flower during 

 July, August, and September. A fortnight often makes a 

 great difference in the appearance of the common, as almost 

 all the plants flower at the same time. If it be visited too 

 early, a mass of green meets the eye ; if it be visited too 

 late, the purpled-crimson splendour has changed into the 

 brown hue of decay. 



The generic name Erica is by some writers said to be 

 derived from the Greek verb to break, a name bestowed 

 upon it from its supposed power of destroying calculus, 

 but others say that the name was given to it from the 

 fragile nature of its branches. We seem to want the 

 proverbial "third course," or what the cookery-books call 

 "another way/' for neither of these explanations of the 

 word seems satisfactory : we find no reference of a reliable 



