HARDY HEATHS. 
79 
Pyrenees. Of this Iris, and between it and 
I. Xiphium, and some allied kinds, there are 
a great many very beautiful hybrids produced, 
and in cultivation, varying from white to yellow 
and purple, through all intermediate shades, 
and mixed in a variety of ways. 
vk tk 
Erica eiharis. 
THE HARDY HEATHS. 
There are few things in a flower-garden 
calculated to become so thoroughly interesting 
as a bed or group of the hardy species of 
Heaths. There is something about the heaths 
that always produce pleasing sensations ; they 
are, in fact, great favourites with everybody. 
And though the species which rank as hardy 
ones do not, certainly, display such beauties, 
either of form or colonr, as those which are 
cultivated in the green-house, yet, neverthe- 
less, viewed either individually, or in groups, 
they possess no inconsiderable amount of 
beauty ; and have, besides, a characteristic 
distinctness, that renders them truly worthy 
of a situation in the flower-garden, or, espe- 
cially, in beds or groups, on the grass lawn. 
There is one consideration which especially 
recommends these hardy heaths to conside- 
ration; and that is. the length of time in which 
a group of them would display their blossoms. 
Some of the kinds would be more or less in 
bloom during every month of the year ; and 
those which were not in bloom would, at no 
period, present a littery or untidy appearance; 
but, on the contrary, they would present neat 
compact little bushes, almost as interesting 
in their foliage and appearance as when embel- 
lished with blossoms. 
Perhaps, no one family which presents such 
a variety as may be found among the hardy 
heaths, is so suitable, and so perfectly adapted 
in every way for cultivating, with the express 
purpose of decorating the flower garden, in 
winter, when the summer (lowering plants 
arc removed. Small evergreens, indeed, of 
any kind, kept in pots, and of a small size and 
neat form, are all adapted for the purpose ; 
but the heaths seem to be pre-eminently so, as 
they are, for the most part, of very limited 
growth, and may be cultivated for the express 
purpose, with quite as little amount of trou- 
ble as the most common shrubs that could be 
chosen. 
Besides being cultivated in permanent beds, 
or groups, or for the purpose of filling the 
flower garden beds in winter, many of the 
heaths are well adapted for planting as edg- 
ings, especially to beds filled with American 
plants, or others planted in a peaty soil. In 
proportion to their size, they are well fitted 
for the extreme edge of beds of the larger 
growing American plants, where the miscella- 
neous method of planting is adopted. When 
planted in groups by themselves, they are 
better adapted for smaller sized beds. Some 
of the larger growing species form no mean- 
looking plants, as single specimens, planted 
out on the lawn ; they are, of course, speci- 
mens of the smaller class, but if the situation 
is suitable, they will become very bushy, and 
in this state look peculiarly neat on a well- 
kept lawn. Being themselves small in all 
their parts, they do not look at all well where 
the lawn is not kept nicely ; for the strong 
growth of the grass in that case seems, to the 
eye, to overpower them. 
Most of the species are natives of Europe, 
and several of both species and varieties in- 
habit our own country, and cover very exten- 
sive tracts of land ; of the latter class, is the 
Calluna vulgaris, the common ling, or heather, 
and Erica cinerea, the grey heath. Some 
of the species have a wider geographical range; 
thus Gypsocallis vagans, which is found plen- 
tifully in Cornwall, inhabits also the north of 
Africa ; and the common ling is found in 
Iceland, Greenland, and Kamtsehatka, and in 
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. 
There are few plants, observes the late 
Mr. Loudon, that are abundant in a state of 
nature, which man has not applied to a great 
variety of useful purposes. The most im- 
portant use of the heath throughout Europe, 
is as an herbage plant. In all heathy coun- 
tries, with an imperfect agriculture, cattle and 
sheep browse on the young shoots in winter 
and firing, when they can procure no other 
food. It is true, these shoots are powerfully 
astringent, and not very nutritious ; and they 
even affect the milk of cows not accustomed 
to eat them, and turn it red; but they are, 
nevertheless, valuable for keeping the animals 
alive till the season of pasture-grass returns. 
According to some French agricultural writers, 
the mutton of sheep fed on heath, or upon 
pastures on which heath abounds, is of a richer 
flavour, and more nourishing than that which 
is fed on grass only; and the wool of 9Uc] 
