THE GREEN-HOUSE. 



55 



sown as soon as gathered, if they ripen before No- 

 vember ; but if after that period, it will be better to 

 preserve them till spring, and then treat them like 

 foreign seeds. 



Only a few heaths are propagated by layers, such 

 as JS. Massoni, retorta, petiolata, and one or two 

 other delicate sorts, which when layed require two 

 years to throw out roots. On the continent most 

 sorts of heaths are propagated by layers, because they 

 are ignorant of the easiest mode of managing cut- 

 tings. 



For small collections, however, it will generally 

 be found more economical and suitable to recruit the 

 stock of heaths from the young plants of a nursery, 

 than to attempt raising them by seeds or cuttings. 



One of the best growers of heaths in Britain is a 

 gardener of the name of Henderson, at Woodhall, in 

 West Lothian. This judicious cultivator has had an 

 extensive collection of Ericce for upwards of thirty 

 years under his care, and has given some account of 

 his mode of management in a late volume (vol. iii. 

 p. 323) of the Caledonian Horticultural Society's 

 Memoirs. He keeps his Ericas, he says, " at all 

 times cool and airy, opening the glasses in winter 

 when there is no frost, and letting the wind blow on 

 them, and using no fire but in time of frost." 

 " Never," he says, " shift any plant till the pot is 

 quite full of roots. When the plants get large, 

 several of them will continue in good health for three 



