CHAPTEE YIl. 



The Fuchsia. 



^' Thou graceful flower, on graceful stem, 

 Of Flora's gifts a fav'rite gem ! 

 From tropic fields thou cam'st to cheer 

 The natives of a climate drear; 

 And grateful for our fostering care, 

 Has learn' d the wintry blast to bear.'* 



Although Fuchsias, on their first introduction into England, seventy- 

 three or four years ago, were treated as stove plants ; they scarcely come 

 under the head of Window Gardening, as many of the species live in 

 sheltered gardens throughout the year, both in England and in this 

 country. In California, they bloom for twelve months in the year, and 

 grow into large bushes, perfectly covered with brilliant flowers. Their 

 light and graceful appearance renders them desirable in the smallest 

 garden. Their gorgeous pendant flowers, with petals of the richest 

 scarlet dye, shading down to the palest pink, or the purest white, with 

 corollas of glowing purple, scarlet, pink or white, produce a most 

 attractive whole, and entitle them to a chapter by themselves, for they 

 are the chief among " bedding-out plants. 



To their glorious beauty. Fuchsias add three other desirable requisites : 

 ^ their free growth, their general hardiness, and the ease with which they 

 are propagated. 



In bedding them out, a moist, shady position is the most suitable; 

 our noonday sun scorches the tender buds, and causes them to fall. 

 Their native home is in Brazil, where Darwin saw large thickets of 

 them, and they choose moist locations in the woods. In rich, loamy 

 soil, well mixed with leaf mould and rotted cow manure, the growth of 



