CULTIVATION OF THE GENUS ERICA. 
243 
a sharp knife ; and all the lower leaves should be carefully taken 
off. The mould in which to strike the cuttings should be peat, 
sand, and leaf mould, but the greater part should be sand. 
The situation to strike them in should be cool and rather moist, 
and where the sun can scarcely reach them, as this prevents both 
the necessity and the injury of their being shaded. When put in, 
the cuttings should be covered with hand glasses for at least 
twelve months, and then the plants will be strong enough for 
putting into thumb pots singly. When this is done, they should 
be placed in a pit or frame, and frequently repotted, so that they 
may never get stunted. As they grow, the tops should be taken 
off, in order to make them as bushy as possible ; for if Heaths 
once get tall and naked, they will never afterwards make fine 
plants. I need hardly add that the cuttings must be carefully 
protected from frost. 
As the species amount to considerably more than five hundred, 
exclusive of varieties, an account of the whole would be rather a 
tedious matter ; therefore I shall restrict myself to the three that 
are figured in the plate, all of which are very handsome plants. 
Erica Bowieana is a handsome plant and full flowerer. The 
flowers are white and ventricose, and they come out near the tops 
of the shoots in twos and threes together, and form a sort of whorl 
round the shoot. The involucrum consists of two white leaves ; 
the leaves of the calyx are ovate, somewhat cordate, and pointed. 
The calyx is composed of four parts ; and the corolla consists 
of one piece divided into four at the apex. The peduncle is half 
an inch long, and slender, and the flowers droop. This species, 
when properly treated, flowers from March to October, and it 
answers well as a window plant. It is a native of the Cape of 
Good Hope, and was introduced into this country in 1816. 
Erica aristata, is a beautiful and rather scarce species, and 
an abundant flowerer. The flowers are crimson, the leaves thick 
and fleshy, beautifully ciliated at the edges ; and the apex of the 
leaf has a slender point, or awn, from which the specific name 
is derived. The flowers are ventricose, and come out near 
the tops of the shoots, being almost capitate. It flowers from 
March to October, is a native of the Cape, and was introduced 
in 1801. 
Erica tricolor superba is a very handsome species, somewhat like 
Aristata; but the leaves are broader and thinner, and the cilia on 
