CHAP. VII VILLA GAEDENING 181 



CHAPTER VII 



The Fuchsia. — For grace and beauty the Fuchsia has but few 

 superiors. Planted out under glass and trained up a rafter or 

 a pillar, or against a wall, or made to assume the bush, pyramidal, 

 or standard form in the border, it forms a most ornamental object. 

 As a pot plant the merits of the Fuchsia are well known. It will 

 blossom finely in the smallest pot, or it may be had 10 feet high, 

 clothed from base to summit with magnificent drooping wreaths of 

 flowers ; and its cidtivatiou is so very easy and simple that the most 

 inexperienced person need not fail to obtain a fair amount of success. 

 It is trae, of course, that the very best results — the highest pitch 

 of excellence the Fuchsia is capable of being brought to — can only 

 be obtained by the exercise of a considerable amount of patient skill. 

 Striking Cuttings. — The best time for propagation is early 

 in spring — the earlier the better. A plant or two of each kind 

 should be placed in a pit or house having a temperature of 60° or so, 

 and when the young shoots which will speedily burst forth are 

 about 2 inches long, take them oft' and insert in pots of sandy 

 soil (round the edges preferably), and plunge in a hotbed of 75" 

 to 80°. To produce really handsome plants in the shortest time, 

 the cuttings shoidd be potted oft" as soon as they are rooted singly 

 in small pots. If permitted to stand in the cutting pots till the 

 roots extend and interlace, not only is time lost, but they receive 

 a check which is detrimental to them ; therefore, as soon as the 

 cuttings have made roots, lift the pots from the plunging material 

 on to the surface of the bed, and leave them there a day or two to 

 harden. When that is accomplished, pot oft", using warm pots and 

 soil, the latter to be light and friable. From this time forward, 

 the chief end and aim should be to grow the plants right on till they 

 occupy their blooming pots without a check. Fuchsias are very 

 susceptible ; the least check during the spring or early summer 

 throws them into bloom, which retards their growth. The 

 growth of a Fuchsia in a pot should be made before it begins to 

 show a blossom, as, although we may pick and pinch, there is no 

 more useful work to be done after the blooming habit has been 

 developed. The plants during growth must never be allowed to 

 become pot-bound, to suft"er from want of water, be chilled by 

 exposure to cold drafts, or checked for want of atmospheric 

 moisture, A light house, with a moist atmosphere, where the 

 temperature does not fall below 50° at night, suits them nicely. A 

 low pit will do weU for the first few weeks, but they should not 



