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THE HEATH. 
ERICA. 
-“ The Erica here, 
That o’er the Caledonian hills sublime 
Spreads its dark mantle (where the bees delight 
To seek their purest honey), flourishes, 
Sometimes with bells like amethysts, and then 
Paler, and shaded like the maiden’s cheek 
With gradual blushes.” 
Within the compass of a very few years, this genus has 
become an object of great interest, and consequently of 
improvement. We are indebted to the Cape for most of 
the elegant species which now adorn our stoves; indeed, 
so abundant are they there, “ that one botanist discovered 
one hundred and thirty distinct species between the Cape 
and the nearest range of mountains.” But though so 
profusely scattered over immense tracts of land in Africa, 
and common throughout Europe, especially in the more 
temperate parts of the northern countries, strange to say, 
no species of heath has yet been discovered in the New 
World. Comparatively few of this beautiful genus are 
natives of Great Britain; those, however, that are so 
