CAPE HEATHS.

OUR native Heaths, though few in number, are rich in beauty. As we pass along the wide moors which are scattered over England, we are struck with admiration by the appearance of the great mass of flowers which beautify their surface. The prevailing flesh-coloured tint of the bloom gives a warm hue to the whole, but on examination we find the flowers much varied. Some are almost purple, while others are roseate, and others are nearly white. Their forms, too, vary, although closely resembling each other, so that the flowers present a great variety of charms. Carrington, who sung the beauties of Dartmoor, thus addresses the Heath :

"On my path

Profusely springs Erica. Pensive plant!

On thee with no kind glance the peasant's eye
Descends; he sees no loveliness in all

Thy summer vesture, and his arm is strong
To dash thy blossoms to the earth and wrench
Thy root tenacious from its parent soil.
Yet, though the unsparing cultivator's hand
Crushes the lowly flow'rets of the moor,
How many a vagrant wing light waves around
Thy purplê bells, Erica. 'Tis from thee
The hermit-birds, that love the desert, find
Shelter and food. Nor these alone delight
In the fresh heath-thy gallant mountaineers,
Auld Scotia, smile to see it spread immense
O'er their uncultur'd hills; and at the close

Of the keen boreal day, th' undaunted race
Contented on the rude Erica sink

To balmy sleep. O ye, on beds of down,
Who rest so delicately that ye feel

Pain from the doubling rose-leaf, like the old
Luxurious Sybarite; not half so soft,

So deep, steals courted slumber on your eyes,
As all unsought, unwoo'd, it drops at once
On the rude highland pillow of the North."

Carrington, in his notes, tells us that the Heath is in the way of the reclamation of the moor, being difficult of eradication. He admits, however, its usefulness as affording fuel to the inhabitants of the moor, and, when thoroughly decayed, as becoming a soil exceedingly favourable to the growth of vegetables generally; we may add, to none is it more favourable than to the Cape Heaths. Miss Twamley fancies the exotics proud of their crystal palaces, and imagines the hardy Heath of our moors jeering them about their tenderness; she might have said also that without the ashes of their ancestors the Cape Heaths would not have bloomed so beautifully in their adopted country, for the decayed flowers, leaves, and stems of the British Heaths furnish the favourite and best nourishment for their foreign rivals.

The Cape Heaths were scarcely known to us until the latter part of the last century, now we possess a large number of species, but yet there are numerous species, supposed to be still more beautiful than those we possess, still to be procured. They are a tribe of plants of great value, since they not only continue in bloom for a long time, but nearly, if not all the year round there are species displaying their beauties, so that at no season is the conservatory deprived of the

presence of some of the family. To describe any of them here in particular would be to bestow notice upon a few, while numerous others of equal beauty and attraction would be left unnoticed, and to give a description of the finest would occupy more space than is allotted to the whole of this little brochure. We would recommend each of our readers to begin the cultivation of the tribe, if practicable, with a few specimens, and as they become better acquainted with their treatment by experience to add to their collection.

PROPAGATION. This lovely tribe of plants is propagated by two methods, namely, by sowing the seeds or by striking cuttings.

BY SEEDS.-Seeds of the Heath are sown at different times by different floriculturists. Those which are gathered from plants which have flowered in England are by some sown as soon as they are ripe, by others they are dried and stored away in a suitable place in paper until the ensuing spring, which seems more in accordance with the ordinary operations of nature. Seeds which are procured from the Cape of Good Hope, the native country of the great mass of exotic Heaths, are generally sown immediately on their receipt, though, should the period of their arrival be late in autumn, or in winter, they are frequently carefully laid aside till spring; for it has been found by experience that when sown too late the seeds will decay and not germinate at all, and if they do germinate, and the tender plants make their appearance, they are sickly, and from the want of light and the

superabundance of moisture in the atmosphere they not seldom droop and die.

Early spring, then, is a more favourable time for sowing seeds of the Heaths than the autumn of the year; for they not only have every advantage of longer continued periods of light, but brighter and warmer days, so that the young plants are free from the injurious effects of a dull and damp atmosphere, and have time during the summer months to grow and become vigorous before winter arrives.

Having determined to sow, and procured the seeds, the next step is to provide as many seed-pans or flat pots as may be required. In these put a quantity of small potsherds so as to fill up one-half of their depth, and upon the potsherds spread a stratum of turfy peat, so that the soil may not be washed down into the drainage, so as to choke up the passage for superfluous water. Upon the turfy peat spread a layer of fine peat-earth, lightly pressing it down with the hand, or with a flower-pot, so as to render the soil firm and to level the surface. When this is completed, the surface of the soil in which the seeds are to be sown should be about half an inch from the rim of the pot. The peat having been made thus firm, by which means the seeds are prevented from sinking too deep and being thus lost, the seeds are sown upon the level surface, and then slightly covered with fine peat and watered.

The seed-pans are then placed in a house prepared for the purpose, or may be set in a frame. Warmth and moisture are the necessary conditions to stimulate seeds into germination and growth, and wherever

placed, the pans must be screened from the sun's rays, which would cause such an amount of evaporation as would probably destroy the seedlings. At the same time an excess of moisture must be guarded against, or the tender seedlings will damp off. Assuming that the seed retained the vital principle in full energy, and that the preceding cautions have been observed, we may reasonably expect the young plants to thrive, when, as their strength increases, the shading may be gradually lessened, and at length discontinued, and by degrees more air be admitted to them, until they are ready to be transplanted.

AFTER-TREATMENT OF SEEDLINGS.-If the seed has been sown early in the spring, the plants will be ready to pot off before the end of the summer; but if sown much later in the year, they will probably be too weak for it to be safe to remove them, in which case it is better to let them remain in their seed-pans until the following spring, the pans being placed upon a light cool shelf in the greenhouse. If, however, the young plants are healthy, and have been sufficiently hardened by a free admission of air, they may be removed singly into thumb-pots. Sufficient drainage being first provided, the pots may then be filled with sandy peat, in which the plants are to be carefully planted. They must then be well watered, and the pots set in a close and shaded frame. In the course of ten days or a fortnight the roots will have become accustomed to their new locality, which the plants will indicate by their fresh appearance and