28 ON RAISING HYBRID SEEDLING FUCHSIAS. 



may be deterred from the attempt at raising hybrids, from the appre- 

 hension of not possessing the necessary means of culture, I trust it 

 will not be considered officious or presuming in one who, for experi- 

 ment, has proved the possibility of raising them to any required ex- 

 tent, with the assistance of only a garden frame, without any artificial 

 heat. It is generally known that the old varieties, which are mostly 

 deciduous, may be taken up, potted, and, when denuded of their 

 foliage, be packed, as close as the pots will allow, in coal ashes, and 

 covered with anything that will keep out the wet and frost : these, 

 when the growing season arrives, may, for the purpose in question, 

 be either turned out or retained in the pots. The fulgens, in order 

 to be kept vegetating, may be placed in the window of a warm room, 

 where, by the usual treatment of watering, re-potting, &c, it will 

 come, into flower a month earlier than if the roots be suffered to 

 remain dormant in a dry state through the winter. The several sorts 

 being in blossom, whatever bloom may be selected for the production 

 of seeds should have the anthers removed immediately the flower can, 

 by a slight pressure on the extremity of the calyx, be made to open. 

 Although the best time for impregnation is when the apex of the 

 stigma presents a cloven appearance, I would nevertheless recom- 

 mend that the pollen be applied immediately the calyx, by being ex- 

 panded, exposes the stigma to intrusive insects that might mar the 

 success of the operation. Let the pollen, then, be taken in abund- 

 ance from the sort intended to effect the cross, and applied to the 

 stigma of the flower required to produce seed, so as to completely 

 envelope it in the downy particles. If this be repeated once on each 

 of the two succeeding days, all the other flowers on the shoot be 

 removed, and something be placed over the flower to protect it from 

 rain, should it prevail, the pod will swell and produce good seed in 

 the open air : — so far the shrubby or old sorts. The fulgens being 

 somewhat more tardy in ripening, its seed will be better kept, pending 

 the whole process, which should be precisely the same as with the 

 shrubby, in the window as before, giving it plenty of air. From this 

 I merely remove the pods not required for seed, as the flowers fall 

 off, so that the plant may be kept in its full beauty whilst it is ripen- 

 ing its seed. On the seed-pod assuming a purplish hue and semi- 

 pellucid appearance, it should be gathered and laid in an airy situa- 

 tion till siccation shall have reduced it to the state of an over-dry 



