MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS. 



741 



the plants have filled with roots the 32-sized 

 pots, they should be retained in them until they 

 begin to assume a stinted appearance, which is 

 insured by giving little water, more air, and 

 keeping them cooler than heretofore. The soil 

 should be rather porous, the pots well drained, 

 and less stimulus given by enriching the soil 

 with solid or liquid manure. 



The Globe amaranthe is reared annually by 

 seed, which should be sown early in March. Its 

 cultivation differs from that of the balsam and 

 cockscomb only in respect to temperature, re- 

 quiring rather more than the former and rather 

 less than the latter. Equally useful for summer 

 and autumn decoration as the last. 



The Fuchsia is propagated by seed when new 

 varieties are desired, by cuttings of the young 

 wood for general purposes, and sometimes, but 

 rarely, by the leaves, which may be regarded 

 more in the light of a curious experiment than 

 of practical utility. 



To produce improved varieties by seed, it is 

 a necessary condition that artificial impregna- 

 tion has been made to take place between two 

 existing varieties, possessing some or all of the 

 properties which constitute perfection in the 

 flower and plant. The principal of these pro- 

 perties are, colour, size, form, and habit. Col- 

 our should be pure and well defined ; for ex- 

 ample, in the light-coloured varieties the sepals 

 should be pure white, and the corolla a rich 

 purple ; and in the dark varieties the sepals 

 should be of the brightest crimson or scarlet. 

 In both, large size is a qualification. As to 

 form, the sepals should be stout and broad, and 

 well reflexed; the corolla should be large, and 

 extend beyond the sepals, — it should also be 

 circular and cupped. The flower-stalk should 

 be 3 inches or more in length, so that the flower 

 may hang gracefully down. In regard to habit, 

 the foliage should not be too lai'ge and coarse, 

 and the flowers should be produced in abun- 

 dance. In attempting, therefore, to improve a 

 fine-shaped flower, but defective in a good 

 corolla, take the pollen of a variety that has a 

 good corolla, and with it impregnate the stigma 

 of the one with the good tube and sepals, and save 

 the seed produced by the intercourse. The sub- 

 ject of hybridising generally has been already 

 detailed at some length (vide p. 313.) When 

 the seed becomes ripe — and it is important that 

 it be fully so— gather it, and clear it from the pulp 

 by washing ; and when thoroughly dried in the 

 sun, keep it in a cool dry place till March, which 

 is the best time for sowing. Prepare shallow pots 

 or pans by draining them well, then fill them to 

 within half an inch of the top, and press the soil 

 pretty firmly down, leaving the surface quite 

 smooth, and on this sow the seed thinly, and cover 

 to the depth of a quarter of an inch. Place them 

 in a pit at a moderate temperature, but near to 

 the glass. When the young plants are from an 

 inch to an inch and a half in height, pot them 

 off into 60-sized pots singly, and place them in 

 a shallow pit, with a usual greenhouse tempera- 

 ture, shifting first into 48-sized pots, and after- 

 wards into 32-sized, and allow them there to 

 remain until they flower, when a selection of 

 those having good points should be made, and 

 VOL II. 



the others thrown away. Those retained should 

 be shifted into 24 or 16 sized pots, according to 

 their strength. This constitutes their first sea- 

 son's growth. 



Propagation by cuttings is best commenced in 

 February and March, and should the plants 

 from which they are to be taken be not already 

 sufficiently excited, set them in a warm pit for 

 a few days to forward them. The cutting3 

 should be taken when about 2 inches long, cut- 

 ting them off close to the old wood. Set them 

 in pots filled with light sandy soil to within an 

 inch and a half of their tops, upon which place 

 an inch of fine silvery sand, in which to insert 

 the cuttings. Settle the sand about them by a 

 gentle watering, and when dry plunge them in a 

 mild bottom-heat, as recommended for pelar- 

 goniums, and treat them in the same manner. 

 This mode of propagation may also be carried 

 on throughout the summer, shifting the plants 

 into larger pots as they advance in size. 



Soil. — A light rich sandy soil is most suitable 

 for very young plants; but as they attain 

 strength, supply them with stronger soil until 

 they are placed in their flowering-pots, when a 

 compost of strong yellow loam, containing about 

 one-eighth of leaf-mould and one-fourth of very 

 decayed cow-dung, should be used. Young 

 plants will require to have their tops pinched 

 off from time to time, to insure a sufficiency of 

 branches for their proper formation. If they 

 are to be grown as pyramids, which is the form 

 most followed for show plants, one of the lead- 

 ing shoots should be removed as soon as the 

 lower branches have extended to a few inches in 

 length, and the other leader allowed to attain a 

 foot or so more in height, when it should be 

 topped also. This mode is applicable to both 

 old and young plants till the height desired be 

 attained ; the side shoots all the while being 

 topped wherever they extend beyond prescribed 

 limits, and also where a thinness of branches is 

 observable. No. 4 sized pots are sufficiently 

 large for any exhibition plant, but for ordinary 

 purposes No. 6 will be large enough. 



The fuchsia is often trained as a standard, 

 having a single stem and globular head ; they 

 are also sometimes trained as tall pyramids, 

 covering a trellis-work of that form, and clothed 

 with foliage and flowers from bottom to top ; 

 and when trained in the manner of creepers 

 over parts of the roof they have a very pretty 

 effect, their long pendulous flowers hanging 

 down in endless profusion. In lean-to houses 

 few plants, if we except Cantua dependens, make 

 a better appearance than they when trained close 

 under the rafters. The fuchsia, being nearly a 

 deciduous plant, is easily protected during win- 

 ter by being placed, on the approach of frost in 

 autumn, under the greenhouse stage, in a dry 

 shed, or even in a cellar, or anywhere where the 

 frost is excluded. It is important, however, 

 that they be kept dry and brought into gradual 

 excitement, light, and air, in spring, at which 

 time they should be taken out of their pots and 

 the old soil removed, and be re-potted in fresh 

 compost, to carry them through the ensuing sea- 

 son. Smaller plants may be wintered in the 

 cold or conservative pits. 



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