412 GENERAL REVIEW. 



shaped, and numerous double varieties, yet there is room for a 

 gracefully-habited race of the F. gracilis type ; and the pretty 

 little F. microphylla is distinct, and might be improved. Be- 

 sides F. coccinea* there are several other species and old varieties 

 now at Kew, among them F. alpestris, globosa, gracilis, micro- 

 phylla,fulgens, corymbiflora, radicans, splendens,thymifolia, and 

 others, all valuable to the hybridiser for crossing with some of 

 his newer forms, so as to infuse fresh life and vigour into them, 

 and perchance obtain some novelty in form or colour at the 

 same time. The distinct race of which F. fulgens is the type 

 deserve careful attention on the part of the hybridiser, since 

 they are easily grown, and having tuberous roots and herba- 

 ceous stems, can be stored away in sand or dryish soil just as 

 readily as Gloxinias. 



Mr H. Cannell, of Woolwich, thus writes on the raising of 

 new florists' or decorative Fuchsias in the ' Gardeners' Maga- 

 zine,' 1875, p. 251 : "Many of those who have not made 

 Fuchsias a special study think that the improvement of these 

 flowers has been pushed to its utmost limits. But I need 

 hardly say that this is a mistake. Years ago I am unable to 

 say how many we were told precisely the same thing, and yet 

 immense strides have been made during the last few years. 

 Depend upon it, there is plenty to be done in this direction, 

 especially with the varieties bearing flowers with a white tube 

 and sepals. Surely we must not be satisfied with these, al- 

 though some of them are very fine. We want varieties of a 

 more free and graceful habit, and bearing flowers of larger size 

 and better shape. I see no reason why we should not have 

 these with flowers quite equal in every way to those of the dark 

 sorts. There is also a possibility of obtaining a quite new type 

 of flower. If we inquire into the history of the Fuchsia, we 

 shall find that some remarkably distinct forms have made their 

 appearance in the seed-beds of the raisers, and, in my opinion, 

 at a time when they were least expected. There is, for ex- 

 ample, Venus victrix, which Mr Cripps gave us thirty-three 

 years ago. This is the first variety with a white tube and sepals 

 raised and introduced into cultivation, and for some time it 

 was thought to have quite disappeared, but after great difficulty 

 I succeeded in procuring a plant. This being the first break 

 from the dark varieties, there is more purple in the corolla 

 than in the corollas of the other varieties, and by crossing it 

 with the newest sorts some really fine things may be reasonably 



* For an interesting account of the true F. coccinea of Aiton, see ' Jour. 

 Linn. Soc,,' x. 458. 



