704 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



form, the water, in passing through the soil, finds 

 its way through the bottoms of the pots also, 

 and forms a luting between the bottom of the 

 pot and platform, completely presenting the 

 entrance of air to the roots, as well as keeping 

 them in a state next to saturation. 



A selection of the very best species, with their 

 varieties, will furnish a large-sized house, and to 

 cultivate any others nowadays but the very 

 best is the height of absurdity. The heath is 

 rather an unsociable plant, and does not succeed 

 well when grown in a mixed collection ; yet 

 there are a few genera which may be associated 

 with it with no disadvantage to either — namely, 

 Epacris and Lysinema, the representatives of 

 the heath in Australia ; Andersonia and Spren- 

 gelia, from the same country ; and Astelma, Heli- 

 chrysum, Aphelexis, and Phcenocoma, its own 

 countrymen. As the heath requires all the 

 light our country affords, training climbers over 

 the roof is injudicious, because they shade at all 

 times alike : they do indeed require a slight 

 degree of shading during the heat of summer, 

 and also after they have been shifted, but this 

 shading should only be permitted during a few 

 hours at mid-day, and its application, unless in 

 the case of newly-shifted plants, must be re- 

 garded more as the exclusion of a strong sun on 

 the surface of the pots, which, becoming over- 

 heated, parch up the tender rootlets within, than 

 as being of any advantage to the foliage. 



Propagation. — The whole family of Erica, or 

 heath, are propagated readily by seed and by 

 cuttings. Seed is often procured from the Cape 

 of Good Hope. Most of them perfect seed in 

 cultivation ; but with the exception of a few 

 which are difficult to strike by cuttings, such as 

 elegans, odora - rosea, triumphans, all the rest 

 are propagated by cuttings of the young or 

 nearly-matured shoots, according to the season, 

 kind, and after-mode of treatment. The best 

 time for sowing seed of this tribe is early in 

 spring, so that the young plants may become 

 so completely established before autumn as to 

 enable them to stand the first winter, which, if 

 they are weak, is very trying for them. The 

 seed pots or pans should be prepared by very 

 complete drainage, the broken crocks filling 

 nearly the lower half of the pot ; over this a 

 little turfy peat should be placed, and the pot 

 afterwards filled up to within half an inch of 

 the top with finely-sifted sandy peat soil, pressed 

 firmly down and rendered firm and level on the 

 surface, so that the seed may be all covered 

 alike deep. Sow rather thin than otherwise, if 

 the seed is good, and cover to the depth of rather 

 more than the sixteenth of an inch. Give a very 

 gentle watering with the finest rose-pot, and 

 cover the surface of the soil for a few days with 

 a thin sprinkling of moss to prevent evapora- 

 tion and the necessity of watering so often, as 

 the seeds, being small, are apt to be displaced or 

 uncovered. The pots should then be placed in 

 a cool shaded close frame or pit, and kept as 

 near to the glass as possible. The pots must be 

 frequently examined to see they do not suffer 

 from want of water, a deficiency of which at 

 the time of germination is certain destruction 

 to the young crop. Some sorts vegetate quickly, 



and will be above ground within four weeks ; 

 others more slowly, and some will remain even 

 six or seven months before vegetating. Artifi- 

 cial heat should never be applied to them. As 

 the young plants appear, air should be more 

 freely admitted ; and when they have attained 

 the height of half an inch, they should be care- 

 fully transplanted into pots prepared as the 

 seed-pots were, or they may be set in smaller 

 ones, and an-anged around the edges, where 

 they will soon attain sufficient size and strength 

 to admit of being transferred to thumb pots, one 

 plant in each. From the time the seedlings 

 appear above ground, they should be placed as 

 close to the glass as possible. From some cause 

 not easily explained, all young plants make roots 

 faster when in small pots than in large ones, and 

 also when they are placed close to their sides 

 than when set in the centre of the soil within 

 them. After transplanting, they should be kept 

 for a few days rather close, either by covering 

 them with bell or hand glasses, or, when upon a 

 large scale, in a close pit or frame. After they 

 have taken root, air should be gradually admit- 

 ted to them, until they are so fully established 

 as to support themselves by their roots entirely, 

 at which time they should be placed in a dry 

 airy place, and fully exposed to the sun and air. 

 The usual situation in most nurseries is a broad 

 shelf suspended under the rafters at the top 

 part of the back of an ordinary greenhouse ; 

 such, however, has its inconveniences, of which 

 the difficulty of getting up to water and examine 

 them is the greatest. Suspended shelves under 

 the roof of an ordinary pit are better, as the 

 sashes can be occasionally removed during fine 

 genial showers; their examination and watering 

 can also be much better accomplished. When 

 the plants have attained the height of 2 or 3 

 inches, which they will do by the following 

 spring, they should then be shifted into small 

 sixties, one plant in each pot. About this 

 time their tops should be cut or nipped out, 

 to cause side branches to be produced. Their 

 after-treatment is the same as will be noticed 

 below. 



Propagation by cuttings. — The best season for 

 this operation is early in spring, as soon as the 

 wood is in a proper state ; and when this is not 

 the case naturally, the plants from which they 

 are to be taken should be moderately excited 

 by being placed in as lightly-increased tempera- 

 ture till they have made young wood sufficient. 

 Spring is desirable, because the young plants get 

 sufficiently established before autumn to enable 

 them to stand the winter. In an extensive genus 

 like this, some species differ widely from others 

 in habit, and in the length of time they take to 

 strike ; therefore regard should be paid to this, 

 particularly when several sorts are to be put in 

 the same cutting-pot. The late Mr M'Nab has 

 left us most judicious rules as regards this 

 matter. He says (in " Treatise on the Cultiva- 

 tion of Heaths ") : " In extensive nursery collec- 

 tions, where great quantities of plants are wanted, 

 one pot may be filled with cuttings of the same 

 species ; but in private collections this is not 

 necessary, for a few plants of a sort, in general, 

 is all that is required. When this is the case, 



