54 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 



or in default of that with powdered sandstone. When 

 they are all planted, water the whole to fix them 

 still better, and when the moisture has subsided, 

 cover them with a small crystal or greenish crystal 

 bell-glass, fitted Within the rim of the pot, and place 

 them in the shade on a spent hot-bed, keeping 

 them quite close till rooted. The free-striking sorts 

 will have roots in two months, and the others at dif- 

 ferent periods from three to twelve riionths — -most 

 of them will be ready for transplanting into pots of 

 the smallest size in the following March. Their 

 rooting is easily known by their beginning to shoots 

 and then the bell should be taken off an hour or 

 two daily. 



Many Ericas ripen their seeds in this country, and 

 of other sorts seeds are regularly obtained by the 

 nurserymen from the collectors at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, imported seeds generally arrive in the winter, 

 and should be sown early in the spring following, in 

 pots filled with equal parts of peat and sand well 

 incorporated ; the seeds should be thinly covered with 

 earth gently pressed down, and bell-glasses placed 

 over them as over the cuttings. The soil must be 

 kept moderately moist by gentle waterings, and in 

 about six or seven weeks the seeds, if fresh, will begin 

 to come up, when th6 glasses may be removed by de- 

 grees, and the pots kept near the glass and shaded 

 from the mid-day sun till autumn, when they may be 

 transplanted into pots of the smallest size. 



Seeds which are saved in this country inay be 



