230 General Notices. 



during the whole season. My mode of treatment is as follows : — About the 

 first of August I go over my old plants and select cuttings, making choice 

 of fine, short-jointed healthy shoots, the whole cutting not to exceed two 

 inches long ; I then take as many three -inch pots as I have cuttings, and fill 

 them with a compost of equal parts leaf-mould and silver sand, well mixed 

 together, and place a cutting in the centre of each pot. This is a far better 

 system than striking a number of them in a large pot, and potting them off 

 after they are struck ; in fact, I would recommend the single pot system for 

 all plants, to be grown for fine specunens ; it prevents any check they may 

 receive in potting off"; this check may appear trifling to some, but it has its 

 own effects on the fuchsia, which should never receive the least check at 

 any stage of its growth, neither should it get too much excitement, but be 

 grown slowly. After the cuttings have been placed in the pots, the best 

 way to insure their striking, is to place them on a dung-bed, in which there 

 is moderate heat ; here they will strike freely. It will be necessary to shade 

 tliem with a mat, during sunshine, till they are properly established, Avhen 

 they should be exposed to the open air when the weather is favorable, but 

 they should be carefully covered during heavy rains and cutting winds, 

 either of which would injure them. They must be watered freely overhead, 

 night and morning, with soft rain water, and no other kind of water should 

 be used during the whole growth of the fuchsia, as it will answer the pur- 

 pose better than any liquid manure. After the plants have filled the pots 

 with roots, it ivill be time to shift them into six-inch pots, using a compost 

 of equal parts loam, turfy peat, and leaf-mould. If the peat is not sandy, it 

 should be well mixed with silver sand ; and the pots should be well drained, 

 as these are the pots they will have to stand the winter in. Before removing 

 them to the frame, clear away the dung, and place the frame on the ground ; 

 place some deals at a convenient height, as a temporary stage, to keep them 

 near the glass ; continue the same treatment as before, till the first appear- 

 ance of frost, when it will be necessary to cover with mats, during the 

 night ; and before the severe weather of winter sets in, place a good lining 

 of straw, about one foot thick, round the outside of tlie frame, cover it 

 neatly with spruce branches, to keep it from blowing about witli tlie wind, 

 and, in severe frost, place a good covering of straw below the mats ; if this 

 covering is well attended to, the plants will suffer little from the winter, and 

 will be in better health tlian under the protection of fire-heat ; water them 

 pretty freely during the whole winter, and expose tliem to the open air on 

 every favorable occasion. By the first of March they will be growing freely, 

 and if tlieir roots have filled the pots, it is time for anotlier shift into nine-inch 

 pots, using the same compost as befi)re. The young roots should be care- 

 fully protected from injury. The plants will now require to be placed in a 

 large pit or frame, that can be well ventilated at back and front, so as to admit 

 of a free circulation of air among the plants. They should be kept at a 

 good distance from each other, and bricks should be placed below them, to 

 raise them near the glass; the bricks may be removed, one by one, as the 

 leading shoots come too near the glass ; strong growing shoots should be 

 topped or pinched off, and any that may incline to cross the others, should 



