40 THE FLORIST, AND 



high in the back, &c. How pretty that will look ! above all when 

 One will be poking his nose through those miniature holes, 6 or 8 

 inches above ground. But don't you think chilly Boreas will also 

 try to poke his whistle in those holes, especially from November to 

 April ? Oh ! but Experiment will not open them during that time. 

 Then they will be of no use. There is another thing that puzzles 

 me exceedingly ; it is, how those Chiswick Heaths, 4 feet high by 

 4 or 5 across, will stand in that space, 30 inches high or thereabouts ? 

 I hope I shall live to see these plants, 4 feet high, in a conservatory 

 two and a half; — it will be really miraculous. 



Your lover of Heaths is a man with whom we can talk reason. 

 I do not know if he has corns, but he gets along pretty smartly — 

 only, before beginning his heath gossip, he ought to have headed 

 it with the quotation on page 328 : "Quot homines tot scntentm." — 

 Heathologists are like Pomologists about the qualities of Pears — ► 

 every one claiming the pre-eminence for the new sorts which he 

 has just fruited for the first time. However, I feel obliged to say, 

 that we Heath-growers do not agree as well as Pomologists. Every 

 one of Us has his own saying about the way of growing them, and 

 will not admit that they may be wrong. The fact is, that we do 

 not grow any at all, which is the reason of every one being right. 

 One says it is too hot m this country ; another, it is too cold ; ano- 

 ther says there is no good pezt in this country, no proper place to 

 grow them in — they want shade — no, they want the full exposure 

 to the sun. Kept in doors all the time is the only way ; they do 

 best north, in Albany for instance; Albany gardeners say Montreal 

 is the place ; in Montreal, Quebec is the right spot — perhaps Baf- 

 fins' Bay or Bearings' Straits would be better. I think the polar 

 night would be good shading for them, they would not be apt to 

 grow spindling or get mildewed, and would be more likely' to grow 

 to a size to fit the enclosures of brick walls.- Perhaps an ice-house 

 or an Artesian well would be good for them ? We do not know. 



"America is not too hot for Heaths." I indorse this sentence, and we 

 will see, if we live long enough ; so take care Chiswick, or we will 

 beat you — with the tongue if in no other way; we shall beat you 

 without peat, that sine qua non of almost all European cultivators and 

 writers. To grow plants without it, seems to be a horticultural 

 heresy. 1 thought so too ; but I heard lately a gardener say that 



