FUC 



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FUC 



improved varieties. There are two 

 divisions, in regard to colour, that 

 should be aimed at light and dark 

 varieties, and the colours in each ought 

 to Tie well denned. The light ones 

 should have the sepals pure white, and 

 the corolla rich purple ; size is also a 

 necessary quality, and a good form is 

 also indispensable. The sepals should 

 be stout and broad and well reflexed ; 

 that is, turned upwards to show off the 

 corolla to the greatest advantage. The 

 corolla should be large, and protrude 

 boldly out from the sepals. It should 

 be round and cup-shaped. The flower- 

 stalk should be not less than three 

 inches long, which will allow the flower 

 to hang down gracefully. 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 pos- 

 sessing one or more of the above quali- 

 ties (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 

 i-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 ; such give 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 5o 

 by day and 50 by night. Water mo- 

 derately, 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 ob- 

 ject 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 nume- 

 rous, should be stopped also, to cause 

 the right number of side branches to 

 be produced. The potting should 

 finish in 12-inch pots, which are suffi- 

 ciently 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 

 I be thrown away, or be planted out in 

 j the borders, it not being worth while to 

 t keep them the third year. When the 

 j 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 ma- 

 nure 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 BOEDER .Cm/runE, The whole 



