April 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
27 
plilet on their management—the best practical trea¬ 
tise on any subject in our language. It appeared, I 
believe, in 1832, and gave a great stimulus to heath¬ 
growing, which, added to the liberal rewards ottered 
by the London Horticultural Society, brought the 
cultivation of heaths, in ten or a dozen years, to 
actual perfection. You may now see scores of heaths 
on the exhibition-tables worth ten guineas apiece, 
and some of them so large that two strong men can 
hardly lift one of them off from the ground ; and we 
have no plants that can at all vie with them in 
beauty. No wonder, therefore, that they are such 
universal favourites with those who can afford to 
keep a greenhouse and a pit or two; for to grow 
heaths in windows, or keep them in close living rooms, 
is altogether out of the question. They will not 
even associate well with soft-wooded plants in a good 
greenhouse, after they are three years old; and 
before they reach that age they should never be seen 
in a greenhouse, but in dry turf pits, all by them¬ 
selves, where they require no fire-heat, for this, at 
all stages of their existence, is more or less disagree¬ 
able to them. None but professional propagators 
can multiply them by slips or cuttings in anything 
like reasonable tune, and to rear them from seeds is 
one of the most difficult manipulations in our craft; 
therefore, I need say no more at present on these two 
1 leads. Eortunately, however, they are amongst the 
cheapest plants that are sold, if we take into con¬ 
sideration the time and trouble necessary to bring 
them to a marketable state, for I saw them advertised 
last week, by the hundred, at a shilling each. 
After all that has been sung and said to the con¬ 
trary, there is no real difficulty in growing them if 
the proper soil can be obtained for them. In many 
parts of England no real peat for heaths can be met 
with. The nearest to us (at Slirubland Park,) is at 
Epping Forest, 60 miles off; but we get it down by 
the railway very reasonable, and it is become a re¬ 
gular branch of business to supply sacks of the “ real 
stuff” from the London nurseries to all parts of the 
country. In London they use silver sand to mix with 
their peat; and for very young heaths they make this 
mixture, like then’ beverage “ half and half;” and as 
the little things get out of their nursing-pots they 
receive less sand at every potting till they are stout 
enough to travel down the country by railway, when 
they have, or should have, one-tliird sand and two- 
thirds peat as their proper compost, and that is about 
tlie best proportions for future pottings; but some 
peat is more sandy than others, so that a specific 
quantity of sand, although absolutely necessary for the 
health of the plants, is not to be relied on from print. 
Silver sand is not at all necessary, except, perhaps, 
for the nursing stages; rough gritty sand, if well 
washed till every particle of earthy matter is got rid 
of, is more safe than silver sand, as it keeps the peat 
more open ; but, like medical prescriptions, there is a 
good deal of prejudice about this point; therefore, 
whichever you think the best sand is sure to be the 
best, and if you use it liberally, and never sift your 
peat, we shall not cast out by splitting straws. 
Now, the safest way to try yoim hand at heath¬ 
growing is this : ask the nearest respectable nursery¬ 
man to show you what remains of those he had down 
from London last October. If he does not propa¬ 
gate them himself, have nothing to do with older 
plants. Then inquire if, by taking so many of them, 
lie will insure you that some one or two out of the 
lot will be in bloom till next Christmas, or some 
stated period. This being settled, otter him so much 
a head for them all round, beaiing in mind that ho 
cannot well part with tolerable good ones that woidd 
make a good succession under a guinea per dozen. 
If you higgle much, he will probably throw out a bait, 
and otter you some inferior sorts at 18s. or even 15s. 
a dozen; and if you jump at this, you will be hooked 
as sure as Abdel Kader, and my advice will be thrown 
overboard. If this takes place before the middle of 
May, the plants may not have been yet potted this 
season; for it is not a good plan to pot heaths early, 
and the reason is that their roots being so very line 
and delicate are peculiarly liable to be somewhat in¬ 
jured in getting over the winter; and, unless fresh 
roots are formed to be ready to seize on the fresh 
peat, it would be dangerous to re-pot them till early 
in May, when a fresh set of roots would be sure to 
be ready, open-mouthed for increased pasture. Now, 
whatever you may have to pay for your heaths, do 
not take them home unless they have been fresh 
potted and fully established in the new peat; and 
that you may easily know by turning one or two out 
of the pot; and I should not consider them past all 
danger till the roots could just be perceived peeping 
out through the fresh ball, because the first two or 
three weeks with them after potting is the same as 
teething-time with children. 
We shall now suppose that you have your new 
heaths sent home in the condition insisted on, and 
the very first thing you will have to do to them is to 
double-pot every one of them. There is not a single 
plant in cultivation for which double-potting is more 
essential in summer than the heath. A pit would be 
the best place to put them in ; but, whether pit or 
greenhouse, let them have plenty of air, and shade 
them in the middle of the day for the first fortnight 
or so, till they get well accustomed to the change. 
This brings us to the end of May. In June, •luly, 
and August, young heaths like yours, and indeed all 
heaths not in flower, had much better stand out of 
doors, but still in double pots, especially young 
heaths; and this double potting will enable you to 
place them full in the sun, if you had the lights 
drawn off from them occasionally before they left the 
pit. But, to make sure against a sudden check, place 
them for the first fortnight in a shady situation, and 
after that they are much better in the full sun, as 
their roots cannot take any hurt if they are within 
two pots. Some people plunge the pots in sand or 
coal-ashes to preserve the roots from the effects of 
scorching sun, but I cannot recommend such inju¬ 
dicious treatment. I would prefer keeping them in a 
north or shady aspect all summer than in this way 
of plunging them; because, after heavy rain, the 
roots woidd suffer from too much damp, and, although 
they require a regular supply of water and plenty of 
it, they will not bear stagnation at the roots with im¬ 
punity. The only objection to a north or shady 
aspect is, that after the turn of the season, when the 
nights begin to lengthen and heavy dews prevail, the 
heaths so placed make their growth more rapid than 
their share of sun-liglit will ripen properly; and, by 
the autumnal equinox, when it is time to put them 
under glass, they would be so fresh and full of un- 
ripened wood, that no one but an experienced hand 
could carry them through the winter safely. 
To prevent their running up with long naked 
stems, it is a good plan to nip off the tops of all the 
leading shoots several times through the growing 
season, and every heath should have a regular prun¬ 
ing once a year, that is, when they are going out of 
bloom. A pair of sharp scissors is better than a 
knife for this purpose. The first part of the pruning 
business is to cut out all the dead flowers; and when 
