ON THE CULTIVATION OF ERICAS.— MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF EEICAS. 
By Me. JOSEPH FAIEBAIRN, Nukseries, Clapham. 
fN treating of a genus •with five or .six hundred identified species, and as many, or more, seedling 
varieties, as a matter of course the remarks, however brief, still necessary to be advanced, would 
be more conveniently published from time to time ; therefore, I propose, as opportunities may allow, to 
give occasional papers upon the various heads of this subject. 
I shall content myself, in this communication, with treating what may be termed the elementary 
parts of cultivation, included under the heads of Selection of Soil, Choice of Plants, and Shifting or 
Potting the same, as it is my wish, in the general instructions I ventm-e to ofier, and which are the 
result of careful observations, arising from a rather extensive experience, to be as definite as possible, 
confining myself to a plain, and I hope clear and expKeit, demonstration of facts. 
First, as to selection of jjroper soil, — without which every eifort, however well dii'ected, and perse- 
veringly followed up, will prove an abortion. The best criterion with which I am acquainted is to 
obtain the soil fi-om a locality where the wild Heath grows luxm-iantly, taking care that it is not dug 
too deep ; the turf certainly not to exceed fom' inches, less rather than more, as, if deeper than that, it 
is more than probable that the good and nutritious upper soil will become deteriorated by an admix- 
tm'c of inert and mischievous subsoil. The summer months are the right season to procure and store 
up a heaj), which may safely be used after having had a summer and winter's seasoning. 
The next matter of importance is the selection of healthy, dwarf-growing, robust plants, taldng 
care to avoid anything like meagre, leggy, stxmted plants, which may live for yeai-s (if life it may be 
called), but would only make a specimen calculated to disgust rather than dehght the cidtivator. 
As regards the operation of preparmg the soil for potting or shifting, the soil should be cut down 
from the heap, so as to disarrange it as little as possible, breaking the lumps well with the back of the 
spade, and afterwards rubbing the soil through the hands, which is far better than sifting, leaving 
much more of the fibrous decomposing vegetable matter in it ; add to this one-fifth of good pure white 
sand, and well incorporate the two materials together. 
Lastly, the operation of potting or shifting. Although not an advocate for what is called the " one 
shift system," still, to convert a plant into a handsome, well-grown specimen, in a moderately short 
space of time, recom'se must be had to a liberal shift ; and, to avoid anything that may appear indefinite, 
I would instance what I mean by a liberal shift. I wovild say, that a young plant in a sixty or four- 
inch sized pot may prudently be shifted into a twenty-four or nine-inch pot, taking care that plenty of 
potsherds are used for drainage ; and in ease of larger sized plants — of which I will treat in some 
futm'e paper — pieces of sandstone and pebbles may be used. Care should be taken that the soil is 
well fixed by pressing with the fingers, in the fresh pot, all round the ball of the plant, so as to make 
it quite firm and close. After being set away in a cool fi-ame or pit, let them be well watered ; all this is 
much faciUtated by placmg a convex potsherd over it, and watering with a spout,] leaving the water 
to difiuse itself equally over the whole soU, which is a means of avoiding what fi-equently occurs from 
watei-ing with a rose, — namely, the sui-face only becoming moistened, while the ball remains imper- 
viously diy. 
3IIi5i;rllnnraii3 PMm. 
ill 
Fish panels. — In our Calendar, at p. 56, we said a few- 
words on fish ponds, and now another say. In prepar- 
ing a pond for loeahzing fishes, we should take care to 
deposit wooden boxes or troughs in which the spawn is 
to be deposited, and that done, wc should withdraw, 
with a net, every fish from the water ; and that because, 
if we do not desti'oy the parent fish, their voracious ap- 
petites win soon considerably reduce the number of 
their offspring. A very simple way to stock a pond, is, 
to procm-e and put into it, from other waters, the stones 
and plants upon which spa^vn has been deposited ; and, 
in this way, fish may be brought out in a warm room. 
Salt-water fish can of com-se only be preserved in ponds 
communicating with the sea. We are acquainted with 
mw^^ 
two in Britaiu — one at Logan, in Galloway, which con- 
sists of an artificial basin of salt water, thii-ty feet deep, 
and a himdred and sixty in chcumfcrence. It has been 
very successful; and here the gourmand, ia the 
stormiest weather, when no boat dare venture to sea, 
finds his appetite suppUed ; and here, too, the natni-alist 
finds food for his no less insatiate desires, by the oppor- 
tunities it affords for observing and studying the habits 
and pecifiai-ities of the denizens of the briny deep. 
The second is at Guernsey — also artificial — and con- 
cerning which much exaggeration has found its way 
into joiuTials, in ijapcrs on the natm-alization of sea 
fish. The said pond had its formation from the follow- 
ing cu'cum stances : — Some forty years since, the northern 
