CHAP. XLV. ONAGRA^CE^. FU CHSi^. 943 



borders, in the same way as has been recommended for the different varieties 

 of i?6sa indica (p. 782.), and for pelargoniums (p. 483.). Some of the species 

 are fow shrubs, such as F. conica, F. virgata, F. macrostenion, F. rosea, 

 F. parviflora, F. hybrida, F. excorticata, F. globosa, &c. Others are shrubs 

 growing to the height of 6 ft. or 8 ft. ; such as F. coccinea, F. gracilis, F. 

 tenella,&c. ; and F. arborescens and F. apetala grow to the height of from 

 12 ft. to 16 ft. The higher-growing sorts, when trained to single stems, may 

 be planted out, in the beginning of summer, in borders, or on lawns, as tem- 

 porary single trees ; and in the autumn, on the first appearance of frost, all 

 the side shoots may be cut in close to the trunk, and the plant taken up, and 

 placed among dry sand, in a cellar, during the winter. About the middle of the 

 following May, these plants will have begun to push, along the whole length of 

 their stem ; when they may be replaced in the border or lawn ; not omitting, 

 however, to let them be planted in a large mass of entirely fresh soil, light, 

 and enriched with rotten leaves, or very old, rotten, hot-bed dung. Some of 

 the finest ornaments to the gardens in the neighbourhood of London are pro- 

 duced in this way, with comparatively little trouble and expense. 



All the species are remarkably easily propagated by cuttings ; which may be 

 put in either of the old or new wood. One of the most expeditious modes is, 

 to put a plant into heat in January, and take oiF the shoots, for cuttings, as 

 soon as they are three inches long, as recommended to be done with the tea- 

 scented rose. (p. 801.) Abundance of plants maybe thus raised every spring, 

 for turning out into the open garden in May ; and these plants, in cold situa- 

 tions, or in moist soils, may either be taken up, and preserved in a cellar during 

 winter; or left to perish, and their places suppUed by others, raised in the 

 manner mentioned. In dry soils, they may be cut down to the ground after 

 the first frosts, and the stool, or stock, covered with litter, or leaves, or a 

 hillock of earth. In low situations near the sea, and in others which are 

 equally favourable in point of climate, the plants may be cut down, and left 

 unprotected. 



In this genus, as in most others containing numerous sorts, and from which 

 many seedlings have been raised in gardens, there is reason to believe that 

 many of the kinds named and described as species are only varieties or 

 hybrids. Mr. D. Beaton, an experienced cultivator, and an intelligent writer 

 in the Gardener^ Magazine, observes that " The botanical difference, if any, 

 of all the Chilian fuchsias is very trifling." Dr. Lindley remarks that there 

 are some " who consider the greater part of the Chilian fuchsias as mere va- 

 rieties of F. macrostemon," to which Mr. Beaton replies that " whoever con- 

 siders this considers the reverse of what is the fact. Their origin is still more 

 singular. F. macrostemon, in all likelihood, is as much a variety as any of them. 

 F. conica, F. gracilis, F. tenella, F. virgata, and many more varieties, or 

 perhaps species, may be originated by fertilising the stigmas of F. coccinea 

 with the pollen of F. arborescens : this I have proved three times over ; and 

 I have every reason to believe, though I have never proved it, that F. macro- 

 stemon may be produced from F. conica, fertilised by the pollen of F. arbo- 

 rescens. AH the Chilian fuchsias will intermix freely with the pollen of F. 

 arborescens; and, what is very singular, F. arborescens will not intermix with 

 their pollen ; at least, I have failed in several attempts to effect this. F. 

 excorticata, a New Zealand species, impregnated with the pollen of either 

 F. conica or F. globosa, will produce fac-similes of F. discolor, or the Port 

 Famine fuchsia; and the seedlings so produced will not flower till the second 

 or third year, which is the case with F. discolor." (Gard. Mag., vol.xi. p. 581.) 

 These circumstances, Mr. Beaton thinks, go far to prove that plants can be 

 originated artificially, which will be found capable of reproducing themselves 

 from seeds, ad infinitum, with as little variation as is to be found in any natural 

 species ; and we believe this is in conformity with the experience of gardeners 

 in the culture of Cape heaths, pelargoniums, &c. " Botanists," Mr. Beaton adds, 

 " say that species so produced revert to either of their parents in the third or 

 fourth generation, or become sterile altogether. This," he continues, " is 



3 R 



