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THE MORAL OF FLOWERS. 
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 be¬ 
tween the Cape and the nearest range of mountains. 
But though so profusely scattered over immense tracts 
of land in Africa, and common throughout Europe, es¬ 
pecially 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 ; 
