COTTAGE GARDENS 169 



like tassels from pendant branches, their colour 

 the richest crimson in the centre, with a fold of 

 deep purple," he eagerly went in and asked the 

 owner, an old woman, where she got her original 

 plant. She told him that her husband was a 

 sailor and had brought it to her from the West 

 Indies, and that nothing would induce her to part 

 with it. After much persuasion, Mr. Lee managed 

 to buy the little pot of Fuchsia for ^"8 8s., and he 

 promised the old woman that the first new plant 

 reared should be hers. He kept his promise and 

 sent her the first successful plant, reaping a little 

 fortune from the original, making from it in one 

 year alone over ^300. This took place about 

 1825, and is considered by many the first introduc- 

 tion of Fuchsia into England. But this statement 

 is not strictly accurate, though it was the first time 

 it came to stay. In 1703 a monk, Father Plumier, 

 discovered it, or rather described it in his writings 

 and named it Fuchs, after Leonhard Fuchs, one of 

 the founders of German botany. 



In some villages the people seem to vie with 

 each other over their Gardens, many cultivating 

 a special flower. This charming fancy is to be 

 seen at its best in an old-world village in one of 

 the southern counties ; the prettiest of these 

 Gardens being perhaps the one whose special 

 feature was the Poppy a typical, though fanciful 

 Cottage Garden. The cottage to which it belonged 



