184 THE FLOEAL WOKLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



open for the free passage of water, as no plant will do well where 

 stagnant Avater is lodged about its roots. Water the plants over 

 the foliage with a fine rose-pot, and place them in a close frame as 

 near to the glass as convenient, and, as soon as they have taken to 

 the new soil, and begin to grow, give air whenever the weather will 

 permit, which is necessary to keep the plants healthy. If the plants 

 go on well, they will require shifting into larger pots about once in 

 five or six weeks, till they are showing bloom. During the summer 

 the plants should be shaded from bright sunshine, for the sun soon 

 spoils the colours of the flowers, and will sometimes scorch the 

 foliage of the tender varieties. 



In warm weather syringe over the foliage morning and evening, 

 as the fuchsia delights in a humid atmosphere, and, by using the 

 syringe freely it keeps the plants clean and healthy, and free from 

 the attacks of insects. In fact, if the fuchsia is properly managed, 

 it is seldom infested with any kind of insect ; but the green fly, 

 which has a taste for almost every kind of plant when in a young 

 state, will sometimes attack the fuchsia, and will very soon disfigure 

 the plant if not attended to immediately. A dose of tobacco smoke 

 in the evening, and syringing well next morning, will clear the 

 plants of that pest. I have tried Neal's pastilles, and other remedies, 

 but have found nothing to answer so well for fumigating plants as 

 tobacco paper. 



Any one who proposes training the fuchsia may expect to hear a 

 good deal of nonsense about sufi'ering the plant to grow as nature 

 meant it to grow. Nature never meant anything ; but the Author 

 of nature has imposed training and discipline as a duty. When the 

 Creator first placed man in the garden, he gave the command to 

 keep and dress it, and placed a reasoning faculty within him, and 

 gave him permission to adapt the works of nature to his own wants 

 and uses. No plant is ever brought to the highest state of perfec- 

 tion it is capable of without restraint and pruning, and direction 

 from a fostering hand. 



The training of the fuchsia is perhaps as simple as any plant we 

 grow, for one support to the principal stem is quite sufficient, and 

 to pinch out the points of the side-shoots as they advance in growth, 

 to cause the plant to grow bushy, is all that is required. 



Some people recommend giving liquid manure to the fuchsia, 

 but I think if they are grown in the proper material, and regularly 

 watered with rain or soft water, the decomposing vegetable matter 

 contained in the soil is all that is necessary for their wants. 



No doubt we may produce prodigies of development by the 

 agency of stimulating manures, but we should remember that one of 

 the first laws of organic life is, that in order to secure its healthy 

 function, every organ must be exercised. Lengthened repose is 

 fatal to its tone, and excessive exertion or irritative action will result 

 in diminished power or feebleness, placing the plant in a state 

 unequal to its due measure of physiological action. Surely, then, 

 it can only require a limited degree of intelligence to perceive that 

 a regular and moderate supply of nourishment will increase the 

 aptitude of every organ to perform its peculiar function. 



