78 FLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



hot-bed. "When they have rooted, pot them off, and re- 

 pot them as they require it. Not that taking fuchsia 

 cuttings need be confined to spring ; they will grow all 

 through the growing season, and root so readily, that 

 whenever a shoot is broken by accident it may be put 

 in at the side of the pot of the parent plant, and in due 

 course it too \vill become a nice plant. 



New kinds may be reared from seed ; and to get new 

 varieties, impregnate the pistil of one with the pollen 

 from another, and when the seed is ripe gather the 

 berries, crush them, wash away the pulp, and dry the 

 seed on a paper in the sun. Sow the seed in March, 

 plant out as soon as the seedlings are large enough to 

 handle, and let them be until they flower, and as soon 

 as they flower discard the poor and keep the good ones. 



Fuchsias in pots must be new potted in the spring, re- 

 moving some of the old soil, and trimming the roots and 

 branches, so as to leave the plants in a pyramidal form ; 

 fill in with proper soil, water moderately, syringe over 

 the whole plant often, and when they are in full growth 

 give liquid manure. Young plants should be stopped to 

 make them grow bushy. Fuchsias are very handsome, 

 grown to a single stem. The potting should be finished 

 with 12-inch pots, which are large enough for fine plants 

 fit for exhibition. As soon as the flowering is over, the 

 young plants may be placed out of doors in some open 

 part of the garden. The old plants may be planted out 

 in the borders, as they will not be handsome a third 

 year. "When frost begins, take the pots in-doors ; they 

 will do in any place where they can be kept from frost, 

 and will require very little water through the winter. 



The Hyacinth has the merit of being quite the oldest 

 cultivated of florists' flowers, and its fragrance is equal 

 to its stately beauty. Simply planted in the flower 

 borders, hyacinths are handsome, sweet, and easy to 

 grow in great beauty ; as fine roots, only requiring 

 planting out and proper treatment, may always be 

 bought. Wherever you wish to place the bulbs, loosen 

 the earth late in autumn with the spade, to the depth of 

 a foot, and clear it of intruding roots from neighbouring 



