108 



MANAGEMENT OP ERICA AND MENZIESIA. 



on plains and valleys. The productiveness of soils must likewise be influenced bv 

 the nature of the subsoil, or the earthy and stony strata on which they rest. 

 Thus, a sandy soil may sometimes owe its fertility to the power of the subsoil to 

 retain water ; and an absorbent clayey soil may occasionally be prevented from 

 being barren, in a moist climate, by the influence of a substratum of sand or 

 gravel.''' If therefore we have recourse to chemical analysis, with a view to 

 ascertain the comparative value of soils, due allowance must of course be made 

 for the circumstances above named. 



{To be continued.) 



ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE HAEDY SPECIES OF 

 ERICA AND MENZIESIA. 



BY DAVID CAMERON, A.L.S., Botanic Garden, Edgbaston. 



The hardy species and varieties of the genus Erica and Menziesia are highly 

 ornamental in the flower-border, as well as upon rock work. There are but few 

 gardens in which they are cultivated to any extent, in consequence of the supposed 

 difficulty of growing them. Any kind of light peat grows them well ; and also 

 very light sandy loam, or loam and peat mixed. The only requisite attention is, 

 either to keep up a succession of young plants to replace the old ones every two 

 years ; or where large spreading plants are wanted, to keep them rooting on all 

 their shoots, from the stem to the points of the young shoots. The experience of 

 many years has proved, that however healthy the plants may be when they get 

 large, and are not occasionally made to take root as they spread along, they are 

 liable to be destroyed or much injured, and get unsightly, with the exception 

 of E. Australis and Mediterranea, which being erect-growing sorts, attain a 

 considerable height, without being liable to die off. No season has, however, 

 proved more fully than the past winter the necessity of renewing the plants 

 frequently, all large specimens having been much injured and some even killed ; 

 whilst the same sorts, if only three or four inches high, did not sustain the least 

 injury. To keep up a succession of young plants, the tender points of the shoots 

 should be laid down in spring or autumn ; they will be well rooted in six months. 

 The best season for taking off and transplanting the layers, is about the middle 

 of October, when the ground is moist, that they may take root before the frost 

 sets in ; and in the spring in March, which will thus allow time for the plants to 

 get established before the dry weather sets in. In transplanting, they should be 

 put two or three inches deeper into the soil than they stood before transplanting. 

 When they are planted in a mass, and the raising the ground is no object, they 

 may be kept healthy for several years, by every autumn laying an additional 

 covering of two or three inches of soil amongst them, in which they will strike 

 fresh roots. 



