THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN aUIDE. 



201. 



strained, to bring them to tlieir places. 

 Bj a little management, when the 

 shoots are soft and green, the wall or 

 espalier-fence may be most regularly 

 farnislied, as a front or back shoot 

 can often be brought round to fill a 

 gap, where there is no side-'oud in the 

 proper position. E^^ery strong shoot 

 should be trained in full length, there 

 should be no pinching, as in the case 

 of bash trees, and the whole space of 

 the espalier should be filled as soon 

 as possible with strong, straight, regii- 

 larly-placed branches. At the winter 

 training worn-out branches may be 

 removed and replaced by young 

 shoots, and at the summer pruning 

 forethought must be exercised to pro- 

 vide, if possible, for the replacement 

 of decayed branches, by training in 

 young shoots so placed as to be suited 

 to succeed them. The ordinary me- 

 thod of training the trees to upright 



stakes for a few years is frequently 

 the cause of the trees acquiring ugly 

 shapes and bad proportions ; we prefer 

 to have the espalier complete from 

 the first and to grow the trees to it, 

 as far preferable to growing the trees 

 first, and then constructing an espa- 

 lier to fit them. Our espaliers are 

 formed of oak posts and horizontal 

 wires (common No. 1 iron wire, 

 painted). The posts are six feet 

 apart, and five feet six inches high ; 

 the wires are six inches asunder, from 

 top to bottom, and the trees are 

 planted in the centre of each breadth 

 of wire, midway between every tvro 

 posts. The stems of the trees thus 

 afford a central stay to each set of 

 wires, and their branches are trained 

 each way as far as the posts, so as to 

 clothe the whole with healthy foliage 

 and fruit. Our next duty will be to 

 give a list of sorts. 



BEDDING FUCHSIAS. 



I SIT to write tins paper in tlic midst of all 

 the be5t and many of tho worst fuchsias for 

 badding, clumping, and border decoration. 

 Close beside me, in a lialf-wlld nook, where 

 my retreat is, are some laro;e fountain-like 

 plants of a dear old friend, Fuchsia virgata, 

 sometimes described incorrectly as cocci- 

 ne:\, sometimes still more incorrectly as 

 Wilsoni. This is the hardy bnsh fuchsia of 

 the little forecourt of country cottages, to be 

 seen in all parts of the country now wliich- 

 ever way you travel, and, at this time of 

 the J'ear, a most beautiful object. The 

 best I can remember are in some cottage 

 gardens near the Darnley Arras, at Cob- 

 ham, ia Kent, wliicii I always get a peep 

 at when I travel that country to see the 

 ferns at tho '• Jlonnt," a wonderfully ro- 

 mantic spot in Cobham Park. I remem- 

 ber, also, some fine plants of it in the gar- 

 den? about Lyndhurst, Minster, and Ring- 

 M'ood, in t!ie New Forest, where you will 

 see in all the windows Richardia Ethio- 

 pica by the dozen, iu line perfection. It is 

 quite unfit for a gay garden of the modern 

 school, liut most appropriate for banks and 

 wil Jernessej. It will grow in any soil, 

 and only needs to be cut over close us soon 

 as dead from frost, and otherwise left to 

 itself. I used to grow it on the lawn, 

 planted at regular distances in pairs beside 

 the walk, but was obliged to give it itp, 



beoanse my floral friends compelled me to 

 defend it wfien we were .gossiping about 

 garden matters, and comparing notes on 

 things new and old. I cleared them off 

 tlie lawn simply for the sake of peace, but 

 in the shady places, mixed with ferns and 

 large-leaved foliage plants, I see now liow 

 they illustrate to the letter the principles 

 of fuchsia culture. Though most beautiful 

 on the turf, where they arched over sym- 

 metrically, laden to the tips with tlieir 

 small coral-like glittering flowers, they ars 

 vastly moi"e beautiful now in the shade. 

 After a fortnight's hot weather, they used 

 to get a little l)urnt and brown at the base, 

 and if denied water, would become quite 

 yellow in the foliage long bofore the season 

 was at an enL But now in tlie shade and 

 cool, their foliage is as fresh as new-mown 

 grass, and they grow more bushy and 

 dense, without losing their proper pendant 

 character. Anotlier old friend close by, 

 Hnd also in the shade of the trees, is gra- 

 cilis, of much smaller growth than virgata, 

 more abundant in bloom, and the blooms 

 exactly on the model of those elegant coral 

 eardrops that added so to tho charms of 

 the ladies a dozen years ago, when I gave 

 my days to courtship and my nights to 

 dreams. This also is as hardy as any of 

 our native shrubs, and onlj' needs to be cut 

 over close at the fall of tho year, and be 

 K 2 



