the fuchsia: its history axd cultivation. 151 



As I have said, great attention must be paid to giving plenty of 

 air and to shading when it is requisite. Permanent shading I 

 repudiate ; it makes the plant-houses, in my opinion, positively 

 hideous, and can only be tolerated under quite exceptional 

 conditions. 



Many exhibitors at a certain time, when the weather is 

 favourable, place their specimen plants out in the open, under a 

 north wall or sheltered by a hedge or fence. This helps to check 

 the growth and assists in producing an abundance of healthy well- 

 coloured flowers. To succeed well with the Fuchsia a high tem- 

 perature is disastrous. To take, perhaps, a wide range in this, I 

 should say that from 50° to 75° is most congenial to the nature 

 of the plant. 



Change is the fashion of the day, and, regret it as we may, we 

 no longer see in our greenhouses or in our exhibitions the beauti- 

 ful specimens of Ericas and other hard-wooded plants to which 

 we were accustomed in the olden time. And so, notwithstand- 

 ing the number of beautiful and new varieties distributed every 

 year, we must to some extent, I suppose, be content to see the 

 Fuchsia similarly treated. Gardeners nowadays have neither 

 the time to create nor the space wherein to bestow large specimen 

 plants. So be it. But why should not smaller plants occupy their 

 places ? Neat, well-grown plants, well furnished with bloom, 

 ranging from 2 feet to feet high, can be produced with one 

 tithe the trouble of large specimens, and at the end of the season 

 they can, if thought proper, be thrown on the rubbish heap. 

 Their time will have been short, but they will have been wondrously 

 lovely during that little while. And if this simple idea could be 

 viewed favourably, we should then soon see our exhibition tents 

 and greenhouses enhanced by the great beauty that exists in the 

 many improved varieties that are year by year sent out. This, 

 indeed, would be to infuse new life into the Fuchsia. 



It is well known that the older species used to be largely grown 

 out of doors, and. whole beds were devoted to such asF. coccinea, 

 F. gracilis. F. Bicartoni, F. conica, and even F. microphylla. 

 After the flowering season was over they were cut down and covered 

 with leaf-mould or ashes to protect the crowns from frost. There 

 was scarcely anything more graceful than such Fuchsias when in 

 bloom, some of the plants being six or eight feet high. I have 



