February 1 6 , 1907. 
”5 
„ NOTICES. 
To Readers and Correspondents. 
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Bdifortial. 
Cultivators should find little difficulty 
in making and planting a Japanese gar¬ 
den in this country, imitating, more or 
less, those of Japan, seeing that so many 
Japanese plants have been introduced 
and succeed in the open. 
An article upon the subject of 
!“Japanese Plants and Gardens” appears 
in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural 
Society issued in December, from the pen 
of R. Farrer, in which some interesting 
information is given. It may strike 
people in this country as peculiar that the 
Japanese regard the Rose and the Lily 
as unrefined flowers according to the artis¬ 
tic laws of those people. Even the 
Japanese, however, have their favourite 
flowers, but, notwithstanding that, they 
have common names even for the rarer 
of their native plants. In this country 
we have very great difficulty in finding 
names for hundreds of plants that would 
1 be recognised in different parts of the 
( country, or even in the next county. It 
i is also noteworthy that the native wild 
plants of Japan are cultivated in a part 
of the grounds by themselves much in the 
same way as we" should pursue wild gar¬ 
dening. 
In considering the difficulty or other¬ 
wise with which any of the Japanese plants 
can be grown in this country, it is well 
: to remember all the conditions that pre¬ 
vail there. The soil to a large extent 
consists of gritty volcanic material, in 
which there is an abundance of vegetable 
matter, thus forming a splendid medium 
for the cultivation of alpine and other 
choice plants. The summer in Japan is 
intensely hot, but this ripens the tissues 
of the plants, thereby enabling them to 
pass through the winter, which is propor¬ 
tionately severe. Rain is also plentiful 
throughout the year, thus forming a com¬ 
TME GARDENING WORLD. 
bination of conditions peculiarly suitable 
for native Japanese plants, but making it 
difficult for us to cultivate them in many 
instances here because we cannot imitate 
the conditions. 
We require a greater amount of heat 
to harden plants against the cold, but 
as our climate varies from a hard frost 
to mild and wet weather within a short 
period of time the plants are unable to 
resist these rapid changes. The mountain 
plants offer us more trouble than those 
from the lowlands of Japan, but the same 
might be said, in many cases, with our 
own mountain plants. 
--- 
THE . . 
Portugal Heath. 
(Erica lusitanica). \ 
The accompanying illustration shows a 
spray of one of the earliest flowering 
Heaths we have. After a mild winter it 
comes into bloom during January. In a 
young state the plant is very much like 
the Tree Heath, and indeed attains a con¬ 
siderable size with age, although younger 
plants are always much more handsome 
than large and overgrown ones. I he 
flowers are bell-shaped, and hence the 
reason for the plant being sometimes 
named E. codonodes, which means like a 
bell. They are white, tinted pink, and 
being produced in enormous numbers, 
they present a handsome appearance in 
the opening of the year when flowers of 
any kind are usually scanty enough, 
especially out of doors. It may be grown 
as a single bush in a circular bed or 
larger beds may be filled with plants, an 
interesting effect being produced by hav¬ 
ing large bushes in the centre and smaller 
ones round the outside. A peaty soil 
should be employed if possible, otherwise 
a compost should be made up of sandy 
soil and leaf mould. The Portugal 
Heath thus forms a preclude to E. medi- 
terranea hybrida and the varieties wdiich 
follow it. 
Maclaren a»d Sc?:s. 
The Portugal Heath [Erica lusitanica). 
