65 



SEEDLING FUCHSIAS. 



Again we present our readers with an illustration representing 

 some of the productions of our friend, W. H. Story, Esq. 



We followed out to the letter our published intention of 

 making coloured memorandums of the best seedlings which 

 reached us during the last season, and figuring the finest, 

 whosever they might be. Of this we gave ample notice ; and 

 those who may possess any seedlings which eclipse those here 

 presented, have only themselves to blame for not sending them 

 to us. We were promised a drawing of a light variety we saw 

 at one of the exhibitions, but neither the figure nor flower ever 

 reached us. We allow Mr. Story to describe the character 

 and flowers himself, because they accord with the judgment of 

 our censors on the cover of No. XXIII. for November 1849. 



I am aware of the impossibility of new subscribers obtaining the 

 Volume of the Florist and Garden Miscellany for 1848, and yet I 

 cannot do justice to my subject, or to the many readers who possess 

 it, without remarking that at page 10 of that volume will be found 

 some remarks upon the method I had pursued for a series of years 

 in the attempt to raise something superior in hybrid Fuchsias. Ele- 

 gantissima and Newtoniensis — two varieties now well known — were 

 the first of the race I submitted to public criticism : I am happy to 

 hear from many quarters that they have given much satisfaction. 



The seedlings of 1848 produced a vast number of superior flowers, 

 requiring much consideration, and many consultations with my flori- 

 cultural friends, in selecting the best for proving a second year. 

 About twenty-five were set apart for this purpose, when, on their 

 second flowering, another council was held, to reduce them to five or 

 six. Ultimately seven, deemed sufficiently distinct to be grown in any 

 one collection, were put aside, care being taken that quality, colour, 

 form, &c. should not be compromised, except in the one instance of 

 that most disthict and novel production, Striata, whose elongated 

 corolla, striped (carnation-like) with a dark rich purple, was consi- 

 dered a new and remarkable feature. Duplex was also thought to 

 possess much novelty, by a cluster of very dark purple leaflets, form- 

 ing a compact double corolla, somewhat beyond the ordinary pro- 

 portion to the size of the flower, the colour of the tube and sepals 

 being very brilliant, of great substance, glossy, and smooth. The 

 remaining four, Ignea, Unique, jMirabilis, and South Devon, are noble 

 flowers ; smooth, waxy, and brilliant ; large fine corollas of the ordi- 

 nary form, but perfectly distinct from each other. The sepals of 

 Alirabilis are somewhat narrow, but the exquisite form and colour 

 of the corolla more than compensate for that defect. Striata, Duplex, 

 and Multiplex, have proved quite constant. 



VOL. III. NO. XXVII. F 



