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THE ANDROMEDA. 
mnry -leaved Andromeda). — An evergreen 
shrub, nearly like the preceding, but with 
linear-lanceolate leaves, having the margins 
turned back ; the flowers are nearly globose, 
white tinged with red ; it blooms in June. 
A native of Newfoundland and Labrador. 
These plants are propagated chiefly by 
layers, which root freely. They grow naturally 
in mossy bogs, and low wet places ; and under 
artificial cultivation they require to be grown 
in moist beds of peat soil, and in an open airy 
situation. Unless the situation be damp, or 
is rendered so artificially, it is difficult to keep 
the plants healthy for a length of time ; but 
where this condition is complied with, they 
grow freely, and are very interesting when in 
bloom. From their dwarf and compact habit 
they form very neat and pretty margins to 
beds of the larger growing American plants 
situated on a grass plot ; or they may be kept 
in beds of less size in company with some of the 
smaller growing plants of this order. 
CASSIOPE. 
Cassiope hypnoides, D. Don (hypnum- 
like Cassiope). — A small creeping shrub of 
evergreen habit, resembling some of the 
creeping-stemmed mosses ; it grows but two 
or three inches high : the leaves are loose, flat, 
and needle-like ; the flowers are drooping, 
small, bell-shaped, one terminating each stool, 
white with a red calyx ; they are produced 
in June and July. A native of the mountains 
of Lapland, Denmark, and Siberia, as well as 
the north-west coast of America. It is a plant 
of difficult cultivation. 
Cassiope tetragona, D. Don (four-cornered 
branched Cassiope). — A small evergreen creep- 
ing shrub, of similar habit to the preceding, 
with small obtuse leaves, closely imbricated 
into four rows, forming a four-cornered stem ; 
the flowers are white, more truly bell-shaped 
than the last, and produced from the sides of 
the branches, in March and April. It is a 
native of Lapland and Siberia in Europe, and 
of Canada, Labrador, and the north-west coast 
of America, and of the island of St. Lawrence. 
Difficult to cultivate. 
Cassiope lycopodioides, D. Don (club- 
moss-like Cassiope).— A diminutive evergreen 
moss-like creeping shrub, with ovate leaves, 
imbricated in four rows, and somewhat bell- 
shaped reddish flowers, produced in June and 
July. It is a native of Siberia and the island 
of St. Lawrence, but its date of introduction 
to this country is not known. 
Ca.-siope ericoides, D. Don (heath-like 
Cassiope). — A small creeping evergreen shrub, 
with erect branches, and very small leaves. 
A native of Dahuria and Kamtschatka. Neither 
the time of introduction nor its flowers are 
sufficiently well known. 
The Cassiopes are plants of much interest, 
chiefly owing to their small size, their neat 
forms, and above all, to their rarity, caused by 
the difficulty which attends their cultivation. 
Natives of some of the coldest and most 
rigidly inhospitable climes in the habitable 
world, they are destroyed by the comparatively 
genial character of our own climate; and while 
in England we need for the most part to form 
hot-houses for the growth of exotic vegetation, 
in this case it is the difficulty of keeping them 
sufficiently cool that has to be contended with. 
After all that can be done, the keen, rigid, 
bracing air of their native habitats cannot be 
imitated, especially in low sheltered situations, 
and therefore the plants never acquire their 
full perfection. We would suggest the fol- 
lowing course of treatment, founded on our 
knowledge and observation of the plants : — 
The soil should be turfy peat, of a sandy tex- 
ture, mixed with a few lumps of broken free- 
stone or charcoal, materials which from their 
porous nature tend to equalize the moisture of 
the soil — a point of much importance in their 
cultivation ; for, though they require a moist 
and cool medium for the roots, yet an excess 
of moisture would in this climate tend to 
render the soil unfit for their growth ; and 
dryness, which these lumps of porous material 
equally prevent, is fully as much or even more 
injurious. A cool, shaded, moist situation is 
essential for them, but it must at the same 
time be open as regards a free circulation of 
air. The plants once planted and established 
should not be very frequently removed, and 
the soil also ought not to be disturbed more 
than is absolutely necessary. The surface of 
the soil after planting may be covered with 
pebbles, or pieces of freestone, or both inter- 
mixed ; this, by tending to consolidate the 
soil, will preserve the roots more securely from 
any alternations of moisture, and the stones 
will attract and tend to convey it insensibly 
to the soil. In order to avoid the heat which 
such an arrangement would produce about the 
plant in summer, the whole surface might at 
that season be covered with compact tufts of 
green moss, which will greatly assist in keeping 
the w r hole cool and moist. When thus fully 
established in an open but somewhat shaded 
situation, in a locality which is found to suit 
them, nothing will be more beautiful during 
the spring months than the abundant pure 
white lily-of-the-valley-like flowers that will 
be produced. 
In some situations, where the air is peculiarly 
heavy and inappropriate for the growth of such 
delicate plants, we have seen them grown 
pretty well by placing over them a common 
hand-light, which is kept on closely during 
summer and winter. In such a position they 
are but little affected by the variations to 
