ONAGRACE.^. 11/ 



SO where water enters into the composition of the features of the 

 design. It is very easily increased by division in autumn or 

 spring. There is a handsome white-flowered variety. 



E. hirsutum {Great Willoiv Herb). — This, Hke the last, is 

 indigenous, but they are very distinct from each other in most 

 respects. This is a tall plant, growing 4 or 5 feet high, with 

 very hairy stems, and stalkless broadly-lance-shaped leaves, also 

 hairy. The flowers are large individually, but they are not so 

 effective as those of the last, being produced in leafy terminal 

 racemes. They appear in July and August. There is a hand- 

 some variegated form in cultivation, w^hich, along with the 

 species, may be cultivated for the same purposes as the French 

 Willow Herb, but is more fastidious about being accommo- 

 dated with a moist position. Propagate by division. 



Fuchsia. — Although nothing but shrubby plants are com- 

 prised in this family, I cannot forbear recommending them for 

 culture in mixed borders along with herbaceous plants, and for 

 mixing with shrubs. There are many parts of the country 

 where Fuchsias of the hardier kinds permanently do well in 

 the open air without any trouble when treated as herbaceous 

 plants, and in very favoured places in England, the south-west 

 of Scotland, and in Ireland, their stems even escape the scath 

 of winter. The old-fashioned and familiar coccinea is one of 

 the hardiest, and adapts itself to any locality, requiring only in 

 even the coldest a covering of coal-ashes, or, what is better, 

 but not so tidy in dressed places, an inch or two of stable-litter 

 over the cro^^-ns after the stems have been cut down. All the 

 vigorous florists' varieties may be used in the same way, and 

 the variety and grace they would infuse into borders would 

 well reward any little extra attention they would require. I 

 have seen Fuchsias of great bulk, used as single objects on 

 lawns, lifted and stowed away in cool sheds and cellars for the 

 winter, and brought out and started in a late peach-house year 

 after year, and from the end of July till the end of September 

 they were very beautiful. This may not be done in many parts 

 of the country, and is not practicable except in places where 

 ample glass accommodation exists for spring demands ; but it 

 may be possible to produce varieties better fitted for this kind 

 of work; indeed it is probable that if the same intelligence and 

 skill had been applied to the production of varieties for out-of- 

 doors ornamentation as has been expended on those for show 

 purposes and pot culture, we should have had many useful and 

 admirable things now. To those having facilities for experi- 

 ments in that direction I would commend the subject, feeling 

 sure that they \\dll not be without success, if they enter on it 



