38 THE FLORIST, AND 



vation of the Heath, let us have a suitable pot, that is, wide and 

 shallow, 12 inches in diameter and 6 deep; larger and smaller sizes 

 of course, but in proportion to the above ; and, with loamy soil in- 

 stead of peat, America will soon be as famed for large Cape Heaths, 

 as she is already in the production of big water lilies. 



This savours much, you will say, of exaggeration, but I believe 

 it to be truth. Heaths grow much more luxuriant here than they 

 do in England. The protracted mild weather of Autumn, and the 

 blight winters, keep them constantly on the move. They do not 

 like much heat, or rather, they dislike aridity. With suitable hu- 

 midity in the air they seem to stand well enough during summer. 

 Some few years ago a dozen or so of young heaths of various sorts 

 came under my care, and not having any peat to put them in, I 

 potted them in loam. Being well aware that much more depended, 

 on the physical than the chemical properties of the soil, I selected 

 the turfy and least decomposed portions and mixed it largely with 

 charcoal, the better to secure porosity. I question if ever heaths 

 made a finer growth than these. They tripled their size in twelve 

 months. They were not removed out of the green-house at any 

 season. During summer they occupied the front shelves, no air 

 being admitted at this part of the house, and were at least once a 

 day watered overhead through a syringe, the ^ouse kept shaded y 

 damp, and comparatively cool, frequently 10 degrees below the ex- 

 ternal temperature. 



In an article on the culture of Heaths, which I sent to the " Hor- 

 ticulturist," in 1849, among other remarks on soil is the following: 

 " A good substitute for peat will be found in turves from old pas- 

 tures, cut thin, collected in dry weather, and piled in a heap tw r o 

 or three months before using, so that the vegetation on it may be 

 slightly decomposed. Both in its chemical and mechanical proper- 

 ties, such a soil is nearly all that can be wished. In preparing it, 

 however, it is better to chop it up rather fine, securing a proper 

 mechanical texture by the admixture of coarse sand, broken char- 

 coal ; or even a few rubbly pebbles or broken potsherds I have used 

 to advantage in keeping the soil open, to allow free admission for 

 atmospheric gases — an essential point to be kept in view in the 



