242 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
In potting Heaths, I should recommend shallow pots ; and for 
large plants the pots should be still shallow, but very wide. The 
proper mould in which to grow them is turfy peat well rotted, 
with rotted manure, leaf mould, coarse sand ; and the addition of 
a little light coarse mould will do no harm. This compost should 
be thrown up together for twelve months before it is used ; but I 
do not like the plan of using new peat brought from the common, 
which is too frequently done. Those cultivators who cannot get 
proper peat should use instead of it, leaf mould, well rotted 
manure, light loam, and coarse sand, which will answer as well as 
peat. None of the compost ought to be sifted, but it should be 
put in the pots in as dry a state as possible. In my opinion, the 
sifting of mould is most destructive to the health of plants ; for 
the mould being fine, the roots also become fine in their texture, 
and the mould is easily soddened when they get a little too much 
water,—which would not be the case if the plants were potted in 
very rough mould. There is another circumstance which is very 
injurious to Heaths, though it also frequently occurs under the 
management of unskilful cultivators. It is the exposure of the 
pots to the scorching rays of the sun, or to cold drying winds, 
both of which have a most pernicious effect. Instead of this, the 
pots should be placed in a situation where neither sun nor wind 
can have access to them ; because, if the roots are thus kept cool and 
moist, the hottest rays of the sun have no effect on the branches ; 
and the plants, with the pots so protected, would look strong, 
green, healthy, and vigorous, and they would not require so much 
water as is necessary when the pots are exposed,—which frequent 
watering is very injurious to plants with tender roots. I am cer¬ 
tain that nothing is more destructive of Heaths than pouring cold 
water in or on the pots when heated by the sun. This gives the 
root a severe check, which is in time communicated to the whole 
plant. This is one cause why we often see Heaths looking so un¬ 
healthy, and many of the very finest species are said to be difficult 
of culture from this cause alone. 
In propagating, the finer Heaths, almost the whole of which are 
natives of the Cape of Good Hope or the proximate parts of 
Southern Africa, are best multiplied by cuttings : the best plan for 
making sure that these cuttings will strike root, is to take them 
off the half-ripened wood. They should be from an inch to an 
inch and a half in length, cut clean at the lower extremity with 
