ON THE CULTURE OP FUCHSIA FULGENS, ETC. 147 



Your correspondent desires to be informed whether it is the 

 mode to cut it down close to the pot or not ; I have operated upon it 

 both ways successfully. But I would prefer the latter method, from 

 this consideration, that it invites the growth of foliage from the very 

 bottom of the stem, and thereby enhances the beauty of the plant. 



When it begins to shoot, I choose three of the strongest and 

 healthiest stalks, and suppressing the growth of the rest, allow them 

 to run, sticking each by itself, inclining a little outward in such a 

 manner as to form a triangle. Under this management, and sup- 

 plied with the compost I have above described, they will push with 

 vigour and strength, and produce a most graceful appearance, from 

 the expanded luxuriance of its massy foliage, to the elegantly 

 trumpeted blossoms that hang from the corners of the triangles in 

 clusters of pendant beauty. 



I also observed a query on the Lechenaultia Formosa. Although 

 this plant is not of that description which commands our admiration 

 and attracts our attention by a gigantic structure, or massive embel- 

 lishments, yet it is one that seduces our observation and regard by 

 the interesting neatness and beauty of its deep crimson flowers. 

 The querist states that with him the flowers drop off, and the little 

 branches wither, but pursuing the management underneath described, 

 I find that it blooms very freely; in fact it is scarcely ever without 

 some portion of bloom. I imagine that a fruitful cause of decay 

 may be attributed to the unprepared condition of the soil that is used. 

 As well might the gastric juice attempt to reduce to chyle, lit for the 

 lacteal vessels, and the proper and suitable nourishment of man, raw 

 and unwholesome food, as the ramifications of the roots of a tender 

 plant to imbibe proper and appropriate sustenance from raw and 

 unseasoned soil. 



For my part I would not consider my plants safe if I were to 

 place them in soil new and sour from the pasture. I invariably allow 

 it to lie up in a heap in an airy situation ten or twelve months before 

 using. The compost I use for the Lechenaultia Formosa is composed 

 of some peat soil, a little leaf mould, and plenty of white sand, 

 observing that there is plenty of drainage — that it is placed in an 

 airy and warm part of the greenhouse, and never ovenvatered. 1 his 

 I can confidently recommend, from tried experience, to be a safe and 

 efficient mode of cultivating the Lechenaultia Formosa. 



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