CULTURE OF THE ANDROMEDA. 
165 
u This plant is always fixed in some little turfy hillock, in the midst of the swamps, 
as Andromeda herself was chained to a rock in the sea, which bathed her feet, as 
the fresh water does the roots of the plant. Dragons and venomous serpents 
surround her, as toads and other reptiles frequent the abode of her vegetable 
resembler, and when they pair in the spring, throw mud and water over its leaves 
and branches. As the distressed virgin cast down her blushing face through 
excessive affliction, so does the rosy-coloured flower hang its head, growing paler 
and paler till it withers away. At length comes Perseus in the shape of summer, 
dries up the surrounding water, and destroys the monsters, rendering the damsel a 
fruitful mother, who then carries her head (the capsule) erect.” 
The greater part of the species are hardy, and require to be grown more or less in 
damp shady situations. 
They all thrive best in sandy peat, but where this cannot be obtained, a light 
loam, mixed with one half or more fine sand and vegetable earth, will suit them. 
They are usually increased by layers, which merely require pegging in the ground, 
without any incision. This operation is best done in the autumn, and they will 
usually strike the following spring. The most suitable wood is that made the same 
year it is layered. 
The A. arborea , and a few others, will produce seeds, which should be sown as 
soon as ripe in pots or in a frame, and be very thinly covered with soil, in conse- 
quence of the smallness of the seeds. 
When about an inch high, plant them out thinly either in pots or on a bed, 
which must be covered, to prevent them from being dashed with wet. 
When they are large enough, plant them in the open ground, which should always 
be done in spring, or the frosts and worms will throw them out in the winter. 
The A. Catesbcei , axillaris, and axillaris longifolia, throw up abundance of 
suckers, by which they may be readily propagated. 
A. tetragona, and hypnoides , should be sheltered during winter either in a pit, 
or frame, or under a hand-glass, and those standing in the borders should be 
sheltered with mats, to preserve them from the severity of the weather. 
A. Japonica , ovalifolia , and sinensis, should be kept in pots, and preserved in the 
green-house during winter. They might be plunged in a shady border in May, and 
taken in again in October. 
A. Jamaicensis, fasciculata, buxifolia, and rubiginosa , are stove plants, but may 
be set out of doors in summer, or plunged in a shady border, like the last. They 
are increased by cuttings taken off when young, and planted in sand under a bell 
