SHRUBBY AXD SUB-SHRUBBY FLO WEBS. 



119 



daily, almost hourly attention. Hence, line exotic spe- 

 cimens are good testimonials to horticultural skill. All 

 the British Heaths, of which there are six or seven, 

 including varieties, deserve a place in the American bed. 

 The prettiest are, E. Tetralicc, with pink waxy flowers, 

 fond of a moister situation than the others, and the 

 Cornish Heath, red, with a white variety. E. mediter- 

 o*anea is hardy, as is E. carnea, very like the former, and 

 producing abundance of pink and black blossoms in the 

 depth of winter. Heaths are mostly struck from very 

 small cuttings of the terminal shoots, in sand, under a 

 bell-glass ; but success is only attained by great care ; 

 and it takes some time to raise a plant of any respectable 

 size. It is therefore better to purchase of nurserymen 

 who make the culture of Heaths their business, a visit 

 to whose garden is an instructive lesson, and whose lists 

 comprise all that is new, as well as all that is old and of 

 good repute. Waterer and Godfrey, of Woking, Surrey, 

 amongst others, are famous for their Heaths ; but the 

 fate of most Heaths in pots, purchased as window-plants 

 without forethought as to their ultimate destiny, is to 

 perish shortly after their first campaign. 



Hibiscus — See Althcsa. — The Chinese Hibiscus, H. 

 Rosa Sinensis, is a tall shrub with crimson hollyhock- 

 like flowers, which are used in China to black slioes with ! 

 From it have been raised many beautiful single and 

 double varieties, white, yellow, and divers shades of red. 

 They all require a moist-atmosphered hothouse. 



Solly — Ilex Aquifolium. — A handsome native ever- 

 green, which has produced varieties of a great diversity of 

 foliage, — marginated, mottled, and extra-prickly, — which 

 are increased by grafting on the common sort. In old 

 trees, the upper leaves on the top branches are destitute 

 of prickles at the edges. By grafting, an entire plant of 

 this kind may be raised. Hollies do best in a light loam, 

 and though they will live in very poor soil, they show 

 their appreciation of a good one by their more luxuriant 

 and fuller growth. The common species is raised from 

 its berries, which should be laid in a heap to rot during 



