82 THE FLORIST AND 



another Epacridea, which stood all last summer fully exposed to the sun, in 

 a 4-ine?i pot, and not plunged, but standing above ground. However I don't 

 recommend the plan, I only quote the example. 



It is really astonishing to see how contradictory are our opinions about 

 these unfortunate plants ; they are natives of one of the driest and warmest 

 parts of the globe, and we want to make them live in the most frigid atmos- 

 phere. Ah ! Mr. Editor, we are not homoeopathic doctors in our treatment 

 of plants — it is surprising how Heliophoby is prevalent among gardeners — 

 shade, shade for everything ; shade for Orchideoe, shade for Heaths, and of 

 course, shade for ourselves; but I think we keep ourselves too much in the 

 shade — the reason why our ideas become so etiolated, so diverse, so weak. Ahl 

 my friends, instead of complaining that the sun is made too hot, let us rather 

 regret that our minds are too narrow for the portion of vanity which occu- 

 pies our brains ; nothing is wrong but our presumption. What, we style our- 

 selves physiologists, phytologists, naturalists, &c, and we want to explain 

 all the phenomena of nature ? yet we cannot make use of the very small al- 

 lowance of common sense with which the Supreme Being has endowed us. 



L. M., Albany, Mar. 1. 



Mr. Editor: — I'm in for it, to a certainty — simply for giving my opinion 

 on a few bricks in a "north-east aspect," to grow my little pets, the Ericas, 

 in. I am very sorry that our friend "Anthophilus" has such tall ideas — he 

 certainly must be a tall man if he cannot stoop to look into those miniature 

 holes six or eight inches from the ground ; but he must consider that we 

 working gardeners of Philadelphia are glad to bend our backs to poke our 

 nose through the holes he talks of, to gaze upon our little notions, — and in 

 time w 7 e hope to get larger notions. 



"Anthophilus" seems to want to make large Chiswick specimens at once ; 

 I do not. My four brick walls in a north-east aspect, I can convince him, is 

 the right place to grow them in. The space I allotted is small, but what use 

 is there of a large place with no Heaths in it; but I know that the Chiswick 

 specimens will come out of such a place, and Philadelphia is to be the Chis- 

 wick of America. You shall see. Experiment. 



We think that the views of our different correspondents on this subject 

 have been pretty well stated by this time ; and we want to see the result of 

 their practices. There are many persons of experience here who still doubt 

 whether they can be grown at all, and the only way to satisfy all parties is to 

 show plants of the fine kinds — not Meditteranea, nor Wilmoreana, nor Ru- 

 bida y but such as are more difficult, as Neillii, ventrieosa superba, ampulla- 



