188 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



PART III. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



REMARKS. 



On Fuchsia Fui.gens. — This very splendid flowering species has become 

 an object of general observation and attraction, so much so, that it is to be 

 I'oimd not only in every floral exhibition of greenhouse plants, but obtain- 

 ing a prize at each. The demand for the plant this spring has been much 

 greater than last year, and so much so that nurserymen could not meet the 

 demand. 



The plant certainly merits a place in every greenhouse, conservatory, 

 plant room, and flower-garden. It is a plant of the most easy culture, vig- 

 orous habit, and a free bloomer; some dilliculty however has been found to 

 keep the old stems alive through the winter, but this arises from the circum- 

 stance of the wood ol the previous season not being well ripened, as in most 

 instances small plants could be procured and that late in the spring of 1838. 

 But where a strong plant was obtained, and that grown in a greenhouse, &c. 

 so as to get the wood well ripened, such plants we have invariably observed 

 have retained their branches as well as other woody plants, and we have 

 seen plants in bloom this spring four and five feet high, clothed with nume- 

 rous clusters of fine flowers at the ends of the lateral branches. Plants that 

 are grown in the open border of a flower garden will rarely ripen shoots so 

 as to endure through winter, but will generally perish; but if the plant be 

 treated as is done with the Dahlia, Marvel of Peru, &c, it will be found to 

 flourish-, and be a highly ornamental plant either for a bed, or grown on a 

 lawn, border, &c, as a single specimen. When the plant has ceased bloom- 

 inn- in autumn the root should be taken up, keeping some soil adhering to it, 

 pot it, and keep it from frost through winter: early in February following, 

 the root should be placed in heat, it will soon throw up a number of shoots, 

 one or more should be left at discretion, striking those tnken off; and such a 

 plant by the end of May would be line to turn out, as is done with dahlias. 

 A full grown leaf taken oil with the bud at its base, inserted in sand, and 

 placed in moist heat, will speedily strike root. In fact the plant is very easy 

 of propagation by slips, cuttings, leaves, or division of the tubers. 



Conductor. 



On Hybrid Plants. &c. — A regret has sometimes been expressed at the 

 production of hybrid plants, because they introduce a certain degree of con- 

 fusion and difficulty into our technical descriptions and systematic, arrange- 

 ments. But surely the searcher after truth, the philosphicat investigator of 

 the works of nature, must greatly rejoice at every fresh and striking result 

 (however embarrassing for the moment), which has been obtained by the 

 judicious application of a direct experiment. The more our experiments are 

 multiplied, and the more precautions we take in securing the accuracy of our 

 results, the greater will be our chance of detecting those physiological laws 

 which regulate the variations and restrictions of forms in different species. 

 One remarkable result observable in the production of hybrid plants is, the 

 uniform manner in which several of them refuse to perfect their seed ; and il 

 this character were constant in them all, we should possess an excellent law 

 for distinguishing hybrids from true species. But it is now asserted that 



