FUCHSIA 



366 



FUGOSIA 



The flower-stalk should be not less than three inches 

 long, which will allow the flower to hang down grace- 

 fully. The flowers should be produced abundantly, and 

 the foliage not too large or coarse. The same points 

 should appear in the dark varieties, except the colour 

 of the sepals, which should be of the brightest scarlet or 

 crimson. Though a fine self-coloured flower, with every 

 good point, is not to be despised, yet a purple corolla, 

 with the scarlet or dark crimson tube, all other points 

 being present, is the perfection of a good dark Fuchsia. 



Saving the Seed. Any variety possessing one or more 

 of the above qualities (form being indispensable) is one 

 to save seed from. Supposing a fine-shaped flower, 

 with a tolerably pure white tube, but deficient in a good 

 corolla of the right form and colour ; then take the 

 pollen of a variety that has a good corolla, and apply it 

 to the stigma of the one with a good tube and sepals, 

 and save the seed. The same principle must be followed 

 to improve the dark varieties. When the seed is ripe, 

 gather the berries, crush them with the fingers, and wash 

 away all the pulp ; then spread the seed on a sheet of 

 paper, and expose it to the sun till it is dry. Then put 

 it up in brown paper, and store it away till March ; 

 sow it then in shallow pots, potting off the plants as 

 soon as they can be handled, and grow them on till 

 they flower. Seedlings will flower in 4-inch pots, so 

 that a great number of them may be grown in a small 

 space. As soon as they flower, choose such as have 

 good points ; and give them a good shift into larger pots. 



Summer Culture. Pot the old plants early in the spring. 

 Commence by shaking off the greater part of the old 

 soil, reducing the roots and trimming in the branches, so 

 as to leave them in a pyramidal form ; pot in the proper 

 soil, and place them in a heat of 55 by day, and 50 by 

 night. Water moderately, and syringe overhead fre- 

 quently. When the plants are freely growing, give weak 

 liquid-manure every other time. Young plants should 

 have a good shift from 5-inch to 8-inch pots. The tops 

 should be nipped off, to force out the lower branches, the 

 great object being the pyramidal form. One of the 

 upper shoots should be removed as soon as the lower 

 ones have pushed a few inches, and the other tied to a 

 stick, to be again stopped when it has advanced about 

 a foot. Proceed in this way with both old and new 

 plants, till the desired height is attained. The side- 

 shoots, if not sufficiently numerous, should be stopped 

 also, to cause the right number of side branches to be 

 produced. The potting should finish in i2-inch pots, 

 which are sufficiently large to make fine plants fit for 

 the exhibition tables. 



Winter Culture. As soon as the bloom is over set the 

 young plants out of doors in some open place in the 

 garden. The older plants may either be thrown away, 

 or be planted out in the borders, it not being worth while 

 to keep them the third year. When the frost begins to 

 appear take the plants under cover, either under the 

 stage of the greenhouse, or in a back shed, or even a 

 cellar, where the severe frost cannot reach them ; here 

 they may remain without water till the potting time 

 comes round again. 



Soil. Mellow, strong, yellow loam one-half, well- 

 decomposed hotbed manure one-quarter, and one year 

 old decayed tree leaves one- quarter, all thoroughly 

 mixed, will form a suitable compost. 



Insects. The green fly and red spider are very apt to 

 find their way to the young shoots. See APHIS and 

 ACARUS. 



Open Border Culture. The whole of those having the 

 habit of the old cocci'nea, virga'ta, co'nica, gra'cilis, 

 globo'sa, &c., are well fitted for flower-garden purposes ; 

 requiring no attention but cutting them down after the 

 first frost, and covering the stools with moss, coal-ashes, 

 or other litter, to exclude the frost, removing it in April,' 

 and thinning the shoots in May. When it is desirable 

 to keep such kinds as macrostemma as dwarf as globo'sa, 

 raising the plants out of the ground in May, and shaking 

 the soil from them before transplanting them, will be 

 effectual. This, also, furnishes a good means for in- 

 creasing the stock. Good stout cuttings of the stems, 

 planted at the end of October, in the open ground, will 

 furnish nice little plants in spring, if the ground is 

 covered with moss or litter ; for though what is above 

 ground will be killed, what is below the moss will be 

 safe. Those like fu'lgens in their habit must be kept 

 dry if left out ; it is better to take them up, and house 



them in a shed where frost will not reach them. Standards 

 of any kinds for the lawn may be thus inserted in dry 

 earth in a shed, and transplanted again in April or May. 

 Most of the hybrids will stand the winter in the open 

 garden, and push strongly in the spring, if, in addition 

 to being kept from frost, they are also kept dry. Though 

 thus able to endure cold, they will, also, stand a high 

 temperature and a moist atmosphere when growing, and, 

 in these circumstances, grow with great rapidity. F. 

 corymbifto'ra must have the wood well ripened, and not 

 be pruned too close. Specta'bilis and serratifo'lia are late 

 blowers, and must be treated accordingly. All sorts in 

 pots look best trained to a simple stem. 



FUEL is no small item hi the annual expenditure of the 

 stove, greenhouse, and conservatory departments, and 

 therefore deserves consideration. The cheapest of all 

 fuel is the breeze, or small coke, procurable at gas-works. 



The heating qualities of the different coals knowo in 

 Great Britain are in the following proportions : 



Scotch Cannel .... 

 Lancashire Wigan . . . 

 Yorkshire Cannel . . . 

 Newcastle (best Wallsend) 

 Gloucestershire (Forest of Dean) 

 Welsh (common) 



199 

 196 

 188 

 169 

 108 

 25 



Hence, if the Scotch Cannel coal cost 195., when the 

 Gloucestershire could be had for IDS. per chaldron, the 

 latter would be no cheaper ; for the heating powers of 

 the first are as 199 to 108 of the latter. In other words, 

 108 chaldrons of Scotch would afford as much heat as 

 199 chaldrons of Staffordshire. 



The following are the quantities of the fuels named 

 required to heat eight gallons of water, from 52 to 112. 



Ibs. 



Caking coals 1.2 



Splint or hard coal . . . . ) 



Cannel coal f**3 



Cherry or soft coal . . . .1.5 

 Wood of lime 3.10 



beech 3.16 



elm 3.52 



oak (chips) .... 4.20 



ash 3.50 



maple 3.00 



service 3.00 



cherry 3.20 



fir 3.52 



poplar 3.10 



hornbeam .... 3.37 



Peat (average, not compressed) . 7.6 

 Charcoal of wood . . . .1.52 



peat .... 3.28 



It is essential to good and profitable fuel that it should 

 be free from moisture ; for unless it be dry, much of 

 the heat which it generates is consumed in converting 

 that moisture into vapour : hence the superior value of 

 old dense, dry wood, to that which is porous and damp. 

 A pound of dry will heat thirty-five pounds of water 

 from 32 to 212 ; but a pound of the same wood in a 

 moist or fresh state will not similarly heat more than 

 twenty-five pounds. The value, therefore, of different 

 woods for fuel is nearly inversely, as their moisture ; 

 and this may be readily ascertained by finding how 

 much a pound weight of the shavings of each loses by 

 drying during two hours, at a temperature of 212. 



FUGO'SIA. (Named after Bernard Cien-Fuegos, a 

 Spanish botanist. Nat. ord. Mallowworts [Malvaceae]. 

 Linn. i6-Monadelphia, 8-Polyandria. Allied to Mal- 

 vaviscus.) 



Stove evergreen shrubs. Cuttings of the points of 

 shoots in April or May, in sand, under a bell-glass, and 

 placed in a mild bottom-heat ; peat and loam, with a 

 little silver sand. Summer temp., 60 to 75 ; whiter, 

 45 to 55- 

 F. cuneifo'rmis (wedge-shaped). White, purple. August. 



Australia. 1856. 

 ,, hakecefo'lia (Hakea-leaved). 5. Lilac, red. August. 



Swan River. 1846. 



heterophy'Ua (various-leaved). Yellow, red. August 

 St. Martha. 1845. 



