60 



THE HEATHERY. 



for if tlie thermometer in the heathery do not fall below thirty degrees, 

 the plants ^ill not sustain any injury from want of artificial heat. 



Upon this principle, although upon a much more splendid scale, is the 

 Heathery at AYobm'n Abbey, one of the seats of his grace the Duke of 

 Bedford, in which one of the best collections of ericas in England, 

 has been cultivated for many years, with the most complete success. His 

 Grace^s splendid work upon tliis tribe, The Hortus Ericeus WoburnemiSj' 

 printed for private distribution, has materially assisted in maintaining a 

 taste for this family, and is also a proof of the high estimation they are 

 held in by that amiable and patriotic nobleman. 



The annexed section of a span-roofed house is also upon an economical 

 scale, and well calculated for the cultivation of erica and their near 

 associates. As in the last example, the whole of the side and roof sashes 

 should be moveable, the height over the passage seven feet, and the 

 internal ^idth eighteen, allowing three and a half feet for each passage, 

 three feet for the breadth of each of the fi*ont platforms, and five feet for 

 the centi'e one, on wliich the lai'gest plants are intended to stand. The 

 top part of the roof is covered with boarding of one foot from each 

 side of the ridge. This boarding is intended to support an awning of 

 ^lin canvass, mounted on rollers for the pm-pose of shading the roof during 

 the heat of summer, and also for the support of a covering of thick canvass, 

 also mounted on rollers, to exclude the cold dming intense frost, and 

 which latter covering will be sufficient protection for them and enable 

 the cultivator to dispense vrith fire heat, which, under any circumstances, 

 is very inimical to the plants of this order. 



From November till ^^larch, the latter covering will be occasionally 

 required, and the former, for shading, occasionally, fi'om June till Sep- 

 tember, after which periods both may be removed. The foliage of 



