HO NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 



days to cause every side to be well proportioned and equally 

 furnished. As soon as the plants commence to blow they 

 will require an abundance of light and shade as before 

 -directed. 



Winter Treatment. As soon as the bloom is over, set 

 the young plants out-of-doors in some open place in the 

 .garden. When the frost begins to appear take the plants 

 under cover, either under the stage of the greenhouse or in 

 ,a back shed, where the severe frost cannot reach them. 

 Here they may remain without water till the potting time 

 comes round again. 



Fuchsias will flower admirably in the open borders, 

 commencing to bloom about Midsummer, until cut down by 

 the frost ; spread some ashes over the roots until Spring when 

 they will start with renewed vigour. 



Hyacinth. Characteristics of a Show Hyacinth Size 

 and Form of Spike. To be a fine specimen the spike ought 

 to be at least six inches long, and two inches in diameter at 

 the lower and broadest part, tapering gradually up to a single 

 pip. But form or proportion is the greatest merit ; and the 

 handsomest proportions for the spikes are for its length to be 

 -twice the diameter of its lowest part, and for the whole spike 

 to form a cone. 



Size and Form of Pips. The outline of each, looking at 

 it in front, should be circular ; and looking at it in profile, it 

 should be semi-circular. In other words, each pip should 

 be half a globe. To effect this the petals (if the flower is 

 single) require to be strongly bent back, or reflexed, so as 

 ,to throw forward the centre. In double flowers it is not 

 needed for the outer petals to be much bent back, as the 

 semi-globular form in them is partly attained by the inner 

 petals being imbricated, or lapped over each other in tiers, 

 like the tiles on a roof. The lower pips should be large 

 an inch and a quarter in diameter is a superior size ; and 

 the pips of each circle should gradually diminish in diameter 

 .as they approach nearer to the summit. The petals should 

 be thick, glossy surfaced, as if made of wax and rounded at 

 the end. Sharp-pointed petals always injure the outline of 

 .the form of the spike. 



