We here represent the double flowered variety ; 
but whether we examine the double or single, purple 
or white, it still has attractions ; but they are obser- 
ved in the highest degree in its native situation. 
Here it is seen, spread on the mountains, in the wildest 
luxuriance; afar-stretched breadth of purple flowers, 
relieved alone by the slight intermixture of its deli- 
cate foliage. Who amongst us ever threaded the 
maze of a sheep-beaten track, to reach the summit 
of a heath-flowered mountain, without the deepest 
impression of its grandeur in the expanse, of its 
beauty in detail. 
In Dr. Withering’s Arrangement of British Plants, 
the new edition of which has a great accession of 
popular and interesting matter, it is noticed, that the 
poor inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland, con- 
struct the walls of their cottages with alternate 
layers of this plant, and a mortar made of black earth 
and straw; the woody roots being placed in the 
centre, the tops externally and internally. Their 
cottages are also thatched with it; and their beds 
made of it. 
Woollen cloth may be dyed an orange colour, by 
being first boiled in alum, and afterwards in a strong 
decoction of the tops of Ling ; and it also produces 
a suitable liquor for the purposes of the tanner. 
Our present plant demands the usual mode of cul- 
ture which is generally applicable to Heaths. The 
most momentous part of this is, that they be planted 
in peat ; after this, pure air, and protection against 
excessive drought in summer, are important con- 
siderations. If the lower branches be fastened 
down, beneath the soil, they will strike root. 
Hort. Kew. 2, v. 2, 387. 
