May 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
of tliis colour. Crimson. —Lee’s Crimson or Rose du Roi, Louis 
Buonaparte, Madame Laffay, Ur. Marx.' Dark Crimson .—Louis 
Philippe, Mogador, Antinous, Edward Jesse. 
This class of roses is very rich in tiro two last 
mentioned colours. Any of the kinds named will 
answer admirably to plant in beds; the collector 
may choose which he pleases, and he is sure to obtain 
a rich coloured, very double, and free-flowering rose. 
Austrian Roses .—Persian Yellow .—This is tlie 
very finest of hardy yellow roses; it is of a rich 
orange yellow, very full, large, and superb ; it opens 
its flowers much better than the yellow Noisette, and 
is altogether a very desirable rose; it is also a free 
bloomer, and has a neat foliage, with the scent of the 
sweetbrier. To succeed in growing and blooming it 
well you must place it in a good loam, mixed with 
peat and leaf-mould. In pruning, all that is required 
is to thin out the shoots pretty freely, and not shorten 
in the remainder, but peg them down to the ground 
their full length, or very nearly so ; if the shoots are 
very long and rather weak, you may take off four or 
live buds from the end. Dy this method of pruning, 
each bud will break and produce flowers on short 
upright shoots, nearly the entire length of each of the 
long shoots ; the bed then will be truly gorgeous. 
Hardy Heaths.—T his is a tribe of plants of neat 
habit; several of them are of low growth, and, con¬ 
sequently, are very suitable for small gardens. We 
were much pleased lately by seeing a bed of the 
early-flowering heath (Erica herbacea) in full bloom. 
We consider they are not half so much grown as 
they deserve to be; like the greenhouse species, they 
are always pretty, whether in flower or not. We 
shall devote a few lines to giving a list of the species, 
their varieties, and the culture they require to make 
them ornamental, and show them off to the best ad¬ 
vantage. 
LIST OP HARDY HEATHS. 
Erica australis (Southern heath), 3 ft., upright grower. 
,, cinerea, (scarlet, grey-leaved h.), 1 ft. 
,, ,, alba, (white, grey-leaved h.), low growth. 
,, ,, utrupurpurea, (purple, grey-leaved h.) 
,, ciliaris, (fringed h.), straggling growth, 1£ ft. [6 in. 
,, herbacea, or carnta, (liesn-coioured h.), low growth, bushy, 
,, Mediturranca, (Mediterranean h.), tall, 3 ft. 
,, maltijiora, (many-flowered h.), low growth, 9 in. 
,, ,, alba, (white, many-flowered h.) 
„ stricca, (upright h.), tall growth, l£ ft. 
,, ramulusa, (small branching h,), tall, U ft. 
,, ,, rubra, (red, small branching h.), 1 ft. 
,, tctrulix, (four-leaved li.), low growth, o in. 
,, ,, rubra, (red, four-leaved h.), low growth, 6 in. 
,, ,, alba, (white, four-leaved h.;, low growth, 6 in. 
,, vulgaris alba, (white, common h.), middling, l ft. 
,, ,, aurea, (golden, common h.), middling, 1 ft. 
,, ,, lutea, (yellow, common h.), middling, 1 ft. 
,, ,, plena, (double-dowered, common h.) 
,, ,, rubra, (red, common h.) 
iSoil.—H ardy heaths require a sandy peat soil; 
this, in some localities, may be had in any quantity. 
They will grow in bog soil, especially E. tetralix, 
provided it be mixed with sand, and is well broken 
up and pulverized for several months previously to 
using; it, however, the dry sandy peat soil can be 
had, it is much the best. The place to look for it is 
where the wild heath thrives abundantly : it is gene¬ 
rally in such places mixed naturally with white 
sharp sand, and is then in the best condition for the 
purpose. Clear away the heath, wild grasses, and 
other weeds from the surface, and have it carted 
home. Empty the common soil out of your bed 
rDo .t six inches deep, then wheel in the heath-mould, 
and with your spade break it into pieces, making it 
mouerately fine, especially on the surface; let the 
soil on the bed be raised a little in the centre, gradu¬ 
ally sloping to the edge. We suppose your heath 
bed or beds will be on a lawn: in such a situation it 
will have a handsome appearance. It is not neces¬ 
57 
sary, however, to have it on grass. Heaths look well, 
and thrive quite as well, in a flower-garden, in the 
parterre style. 
Planting. —Having made your bed you may plant 
it immediately: place the tall growers in the centre, 
the middle-sized ones next, and the dwarf in front ; 
do not plant them too thick, but allow space for eacli 
variety to grow in its natural form and habit. As 
soon as the planting is finished, rake the bed pretty 
smooth, and, if you can procure some short green 
living moss, cover the entire surface of the bed or 
beds with it; the best kind of moss for this purpose 
is found on old stone walls, hi shady situations, or 
on natural rocks: with a little care it may be stripped 
off from such places in tolerably large pieces. To 
keep it from blowing from off the bed, lay a few small 
rods across the bed upon the moss, pinning them 
down with hooked pegs. You will find this moss of 
great service, both in winter and summer; in the 
former season it protects the roots from severe frost, 
and during the summer from the heat of the sun 
and from drought; moss being a good non-conductor. 
With this article as a covering, once a week watering 
will do more good than watering every day without 
it; the moss, too, gives the bed a singular and neat 
appearance. More than twenty years ago, when the 
itch for scribbling first infected us, we, having ex¬ 
perienced the benefit of moss as a covering for 
American plants, wrote an account of that success, 
and sent it to the late Mr. Loudon, and he published 
our maiden essay in the Gardener’s Magazine, then 
the only periodical devoted to the science of liorti- 
cidture. We have tried moss as a protective on many 
occasions since that time, and have always found it 
beneficial. Try it, ye who have not succeeded in 
successfully cultivating rhododendrons, azaleas, kal- 
mias, ledums, and other plants usually denominated 
“ American,” including those we are writing about, 
viz., heaths. 
Orchises. —Amongst your heaths thus covered 
with moss, a number of those very interesting, and 
difficult to cultivate, plants, the hardy orchis tribe, 
may be grown very successfully. In the bed of 
American plants referred to above we planted several 
British species of orchids, and they certainly grew 
and flowered better than we ever saw them under 
any other circumstance. 
Culture. —To return to our heaths. After they 
are planted, and the roots covered with moss, they 
will require no other attention for the first year, ex¬ 
cepting weeding, and watering occasionally in very 
dry weather, in the spring following tlioy will re¬ 
quire pruning to bring them into a nice bushy shape. 
Our space will not allow us to write any more on 
this subject this week; we will return to it again 
shortly. 
The Weather. — On Wednesday, the 18th of April, 
we had a heavy shower of snow from the north-east; 
and the prediction we ventured to make, some time 
back, that frost generally succeeds hail and snow 
showers, was, to our regret, fulfilled in tliis instance, 
to the great injury of the early flowers that were not 
carefully protected.# The leaves, and in many in¬ 
stances the shoots, of the Chinese pagonies ( Paonia 
albijiora) were completely destroyed ; the shoots also 
of several kinds of clematis were sadly nipt. Amidst 
all this desolation we were agreeably pleased to find 
the new shrubs introduced by Mr. I'ortune stood the 
weather bravely; Weigela rosea, Jasminum midi - 
* There was a heavy snow on the 17th, 18tli, and 1 tltli, at Win - 
chester. On the night of the 19th the thermometer was dow n to 
■U a .— Ed. G. 
