Since the days of Mr. Miller, who, with all his imperfections, has
contributed more to the advancement of practical gardening than any
individual whatever, our gardens, but more especially our green-houses,
have received some of their highest ornaments from the introduction of a
great number of most beautiful Heaths: the present plant, though a
native of the Alps and mountainous parts of Germany, is of modern
introduction here, what renders it particularly acceptable, is its
hardiness and early flowering; its blossoms are formed in the autumn,
continue of a pale green colour during the winter, and expand in the
spring, flowering as early as March, especially if kept in a
green-house, or in a common hot-bed frame, which is the more usual
practice.

It may be propagated by seeds or cuttings, the latter is the most ready
way of increasing this and most of the other species of the genus: when
the cuttings have struck root, they should be planted in a mixture of
fresh loam and bog earth, either in the open border, under a wall, or in
pots.

The name of _herbacea_, which Linnæus has given to this plant, is not
very characteristic, but it should be observed, that Linnæus in this, as
in many other instances, has only adopted the name of some older
botanist; and it should also be remembered, that in genera, where the
species are very numerous, it is no easy matter to give names to all of
them that shall be perfectly expressive.

This species does not appear to us to be specifically different from the
_mediterranea_.