THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



173 



admirably adapted for edgings to fuchsia- 

 beds, as tliey may be bloomed at any height 

 required, from six to eighteen inches. The 

 cuttings for my fuchsia-ribbon will be made 

 and planted within ;i week after tliis co.nes 

 into tile h inds of my rea lers, as soon, in 

 fact, as I can get the propagatiug-bed clear 

 of roses with wliich it is now cramraed full. 

 They will be taken up in single stems to 

 the heights required for eacli line, then be 

 stopped and allowed to throw out side- 

 shoots; thes3 win be stopped, and the plants 

 got to the condition of compact fuchsias, 

 but to have only three shifts, first to tliumb; 

 from the cutting-bed, next to sixties, then 

 to forty-eiglits, and the last shift will bj 

 about the middle of next March. 



But I could do the ribbon neaidy as 

 well at much less ti'ouble by waiting till 

 February for cuttings, and to make the 

 matter as simple as possible, I will suppose 

 the reader to have the fewest imaginable 

 means at command, and yet to be deter- 

 Tnined on using fuchsias freely next season. 

 Choose your sorts now either from plants 

 in the ground or in pots. Tally them, and 

 determine how and in what numb;irs the}' 

 are to be used, and make an entry thereof 

 in your note-book. The plants in pots are 

 to remain out of doors till the frost has 

 shaken their leaves off, and then to be 

 housed, and not to have another taste of 

 frost all winter ; to be kept nearly dry, but 

 not dust dry, and to be neither pruned nor 

 top-dressed, nor touched in any way till 

 the 1st of February. Under the stage is 

 as good a place as any for them, as they 

 do not require light. Those in the ground 

 are to be taken up when the chilly autumn 

 weather lias spoilt their beauty, and to 

 save all the trouble of potting at a time 

 when there is enough of that to do with 

 other things, get some shallow wooden 

 boxes or wicker baskets ; lay down some 

 rough stuff for drainage, and then pack 

 them close together in clean sand or loam, 

 give thera one sprinkle of water from a 

 rose, and stow them anywhere safe from 

 frost, and they will want neither water nor 

 light till the 1st of February, when the 

 whole stock is to be set to work for cuttings. 

 Those in pots should then be put in a com- 

 fortable temperature of about .50' by day, 

 and 40' by night, and be syringed occa- 

 sionally overhead, but have very little water 

 at the root till ihey begin to push ; then 

 water more liberally, and as fast as they 

 produce shoots from two to three inches 

 long, take them off with a heel, dibble into 

 silver-sand, and strike in dung-bed or Wal- 

 tonian. On the same 1st of February 

 shake all the plants out of the boxes, and 

 pot them in rather line stuff ia sixties ; say 



equal parts of leaf-mould, dung rotted to 

 powder, mellow loam, and silver sand. 

 Pot them firm, sprinkle overhead, and give 

 thera a gentle bottom-heat, and youwill 

 have a supp y of cuttings in a fortnight. 

 Atter this the plants will tell you what to 

 do with them by their looks. You will get 

 the first batch of cuttings potted off, and a 

 second batch going eaily in March ; you 

 will take care to stop as soon as necessary, 

 and one main principle to keep in mind is 

 to promote growth so as to have bushy, 

 sturdy plants by the end of May or first 

 week in June, and by that time showing 

 for bloom at the ends of the ripest shoots. 

 If any show bloom before the plants are 

 stout and well furnished, nip them off and 

 stop back. As I never value a fuchsia 

 that requires sticks and ties, I cannot con- 

 sistently advise you on the subject of 

 training and supporting. It is to me a 

 miserable spectacle, and no credit to the 

 grower, to see fuchsias in beds tied up like 

 a lot of cripples ; if grown liberally, and 

 got quite hard before planting, all the best 

 dark fuchsias will hold up as firm as oak 

 trees, but here and there in a mass of 

 whites a few may want a little support ; but 

 if you grow as [ advise, using good stuff 

 as "long as they are in pots, you will not 

 have to spend much money in laths and 

 bass for them. 



Fuchsias like shade and moisture, they 

 also like sun and safe drainage. So in 

 places where there is a lack of sun, as in 

 gardens much shaded with trees, fuchsias 

 v.'ould generally pay well where geraniums 

 pay badly. My forecourt is so densely 

 shaded that geraniums never show half 

 their proper beauty in it ; but fuclisias do 

 superbly; they get a glimpse of sun through 

 gaps in the foliage overhead till about 

 noon ; then have full sun for about two 

 hours, and no more for the rest of the 

 day. This is just enough for them; they 

 get their full and true colours, and hold 

 those colours twice as long as if they were 

 exposed to the intense glare all through 

 the day. But ray trial fuchsias are all 

 exposed to full sun, gel no artificial 

 watering, and have not a stick to assist the 

 weakest in holding up against the wet and 

 wind. Amongst old and new, which now 

 stand together. Alpha and Bopeep are the 

 most conspicuous for distinctiveness and 

 effect. The newest are easily detected 

 without noticing colours or looking at 

 tallies by their thin leafage, a peculiarity 

 of nearly all the fuchsias sent out within 

 tlie last four or five years. Nevertheless, 

 strength of constitution has not been much 

 sacrificed by high breeding, as witness the 

 fine foliage of Sir Colin Campbell and 



