Plate 144. 
VARIETIES OE CAPE HEATHS. 
Whether it be owing to the acknowledged difficulty of suc¬ 
cessfully growing this most interesting tribe of plants, or the 
want of encouragement given to them by the various Horticul¬ 
tural Societies, or the caprices of fashion, we know not; but, 
for some cause or other, it does seem to *us that the tribe of 
Cape Heaths is not nearly so extensively cultivated as it used 
to be. We can remember the time when the collections of 
them were always surrounded by crowds of eager beholders, 
who now seem to pass them by, and to have transferred their 
attentions to bedding-Geraniums and Roses. 
We have said that they are a difficult class to grow, and we 
say so from experience. No plant is more impatient of neg¬ 
lect ; and some kinds, such as Massonii (one of the most beau¬ 
tiful of the tribe), especially so. They require, in the first in¬ 
stance, a house or structure to themselves, for, as they require 
abundance of air, and are impatient of moisture, they do not 
thrive well with soft-wooded plants. The house or pit (for the 
latter is, perhaps, the most suitable place for them) should be 
heated, simply for the purpose of excluding frost; any amount 
of heat beyond that not being required: it should be also well 
ventilated. They should, in the second place, be grown in an 
airy situation, a close atmosphere not suiting them; while some 
of the finest plants we have ever seen have been grown in the 
outskirts of London. Then one must be careful as to soil; peat, 
with a liberal admixture of silver-sand and some charcoal, being 
the most suitable for them. But even here they are particular, 
some peat not suiting them so well as others; that obtained 
from Wimbledon for those in the neighbourhood of London 
being considered the best: the finer and more open it is, the 
