GREEN-HOUSE PLANTS 



117 



The cultivation of Ericas is generally looked upon 

 as being a matter of extreme diificulty, but the grand 

 specimens which are to be found in the gardens of 

 Great Britain and Ireland, are at least a proof that it 

 is an art the British gardeners have fully mastered, 

 and in which they stand pre-eminent ; for no other 

 Europeans can rival, far less surpass them in the 

 culture of these plants. Climate, no doubt, has much 

 to do with this, for in the North of Euro]pe the 

 changes in the temperature are too extreme, and in 

 the South the atmosphere is too hot and arid to suit 

 the constitutions of Cape Heaths, so that no matter 

 how careful or painstaking a Continental gardener 

 may be, he cannot thoroughly overcome the diffi- 

 culties of climate. 



These plants will grow only in peat, earth, and 

 sharp sand ; this, however, must not be hard and 

 harsh, nor boggy, or spongy, but good, fibrous, gritty 

 peat, and it is best not sifted, but the fibre should be 

 chopped up with the soil ; the coarseness must, of 

 course, be regulated by the size of the pots into 

 which the jplants are shifted. The pots must be 

 carefully drained ; that is to say, the drainage 

 material should be so placed as to allow the w^ater to 

 rapidly pass away ; this can be effected with a few 

 properly -adjusted pieces of broken pots in a far 

 better manner than is oftentimes done with a large 

 quantity, when the operation is performed in a 

 thoughtless and careless manner. 



Heaths, when they have attained considerable size, 

 may be kept in the same pot for several years, if 

 the mould is not sour, and the drainage remains in 

 working order ; but when these plants are re-potted 

 it should be done before they get thoroughly pot- 

 bound, but always let the old pots be well filled with 

 roots before putting into larger ones. When the 

 plant is taken out of the old pot the shoulder of the 

 ball should be carefully rubbed down and the drain- 

 age material removed with as little injury to the 

 roots as possible ; place sufficient mould over the 

 drainage in the new pot to allow the plant to stand 

 at its proper level, which should be about two inches 

 below the rim, fill round the sides with the new 

 mould, and press it down very firmly as the process 

 goes on, for the roots of Ericas are very fine, and 

 they root more freely and thrive best when potted 

 hard. 



Heaths, like all other plants, require a certain 

 amount of pruning, but with these plants the opera- 

 tion requires considerable care and forethought. In 

 the case of the soft-wooded free-growing kinds, we 

 advise the knife to be used pretty freely ; immediately 

 after flowering cut the shoots back below the points 

 which have bloomed, and any shoots or laterals which 

 have not flowered may also be stopped at the same 

 time ; after the shoots have started let them grow 



freely until they are about six inches long, when the 

 points should be pinched out ; after this, if the plant 

 is tolerably bushy, do not stop again, and the result 

 will be fine long spikes of bloom. With the hard- 

 wooded kinds, however, the case is very different, a 

 knife should never be applied to them ; these will 

 only require just the points pinched out at any time, 

 and this may be done from time to time according to 

 the style in which the cultivator wishes to build up 

 the specimen. In performing this operation a thought 

 must be given as to the time of fiowering, for if it 

 is done too late in the season, it prevents the wood 

 attaining maturity, and the result is that the plant is 

 bare of flowers. 



The judicious application of water is one of the 

 great secrets in Heath-culture ; many inexperienced 

 in this matter say they should not have much water ; 

 our experience, however, goes to prove that Ericas 

 like an abundant supply of water when growing, but 

 it must be carried off quickly. It is difficult to 

 moisten a ball of peat through with a small quantity 

 of water, and the roots of these plants should never 

 be allowed to suffer drought, or in all probability 

 death wiU rapidly ensue; and the same end will 

 speedily be arrived at if the roots become soddened 

 with water ; therefore, in watering, give sufficient 

 water to thoroughly penetrate the whole mass of 

 soil, look over the plants frequently in order to 

 anticipate their wants, be sure the drainage is free' 

 and open, and all will be well. In winter less water 

 as a matter of course will be necessary, but winter or 

 summer, whenever it is given, do it thoroughly. 



Ericas may be stood in the open air during the 

 summer months, the full exposm^e to the sun being 

 very beneficial in ripening the growth, and the 

 plants have the advantage of standing on a cooler 

 bottom than when on a stage in the house. 



These plants require thorough ventilation, there- 

 fore the lights must be always kept open in genial 

 weather to allow of a free circulation of air. Eire- 

 heat is one of their greatest enemies, and, unless 

 during frosty weather, it should never be apjDlied. 

 An exception to this rule, however, may be made 

 during a period of dull wet weather when the atmos- 

 phere becomes heavy and damp ; then a little heat 

 may be applied with advantage, but the ventilators 

 must be all opened at the time, and the house 

 allowed to get cool again before night. Mildew is a 

 pest which must be kept from these plants, or the 

 leaves will become rusty, and the bare stems left 

 after the leaves fall greatly disfigui'e their appear- 

 ance. Whenever this is discovered, immediately 

 dust the affected part with sulphur ; the plants 

 should be laid on their sides during the operation in 

 order to prevent its falling on the soil, as it is very 

 inj^irious to the roots. 



