42 
THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 
cover the surface of the mould in which small seeds are sown with 
chopped moss, to keep the surface moist — a practice which experi- 
ence bids me say is very bad. It induces a weakly and etiolated 
growth, at the time when all the elements furnished individually by, 
and in the combination of, air and light, should exert all their 
influence on the advancing plant. And should the unlucky culti- 
vator leave his delicate charges reposing under the influence of the 
protecting moss a few days without his immediate superintendence, 
the young plants, struggling for light and liberty, will have become 
entangled in their fostering canopy, which, on being removed, 
carries with it the greater portion of the plants, leaving the 
remainder weakly and deformed. 
A mode which will succeed well is this : — Sow your seeds in 
spring, as above described ; place the pots in a cool and shady situa- 
tion, protected from rains, but having free benefit of a circulating 
atmosphere. If you have only a few pots, under a hand-glass 
raised at the corners, behind a north wall, is an excellent situation. 
When the young plants appear, gradually inure them to the full 
atmospheric and solar influence. If your seed is sown early, the 
plants will of course be sufficiently strong to be potted off the same 
season ; but if late, and the plants are small and weak at the end of 
the summer, they had better remain in their seed-pots, occupying 
during winter a light, cool shelf in the heathery or greenhouse, 
potting them off early the ensuing season. 
The usual mode of propagation is by cuttings ; and as the shoots 
adapted for the purpose are suitable at different seasons, according 
as the plants are early or late bloomers, no season can be recom- 
mended. in preference to another for carrying out the operation. 
Thus, most of the ventricosa's are late bloomers ; the growth, there- 
fore, is proceeding during autumn — in fact, they continue to grow 
the whole of the w inter. Fully-organized wood adapted for cut- 
tings may, therefore, be procured early in spring. The same may 
be said of verticillata, and others easily recognized. The winter- 
blooming heaths, as Scotia, vernix, liirta, costata, ardeus, vernix 
coccinea, gracilis, etc., will consequently produce cuttings later in 
the year, and so of others in succession. As a rule, to prevent un- 
necessary trouble and disappointment, never select cuttings till the 
wood is ripe (fully organized). This term cannot be rendered 
intelligible by words or drawings, or, indeed, in any way short of 
experience. The best explanation that can be given is this : — Select 
your cuttings from wood of the current season’s growth, and let 
that portion at which you intend roots to be formed neither be too 
soft (cellular) nor too w'oody. If the former, damp will quickly 
destroy it ; if the latter, no roots (or, if any, very feeble) will be 
emitted, but the cutting, by absorbing moisture through the medium 
of the sand in which it is planted, and losing little by being pro- 
tected by the bell-glass, will remain green and healthy-looking for 
months, 
“ Holding the word of promise to the eye, 
But breaking it to the hope.” 
It would require an elaborate treatise to show when and why a 
