206 
GENERAL TREATMENT OF FUCHSIAS. 
neither bloom finely, nor become handsome specimens. Of this kind, are the 
majority of those seen in the windows of both cottages and drawing-rooms, as well 
as those in limited greenhouses. If they bloom at all, however scantily and 
miserably, enough seems to have been obtained from them, and people appear to 
have no idea that, with the same amount of trouble, backed by a little philosophy 
and forethought, they can have specimens really worth looking at, and fitted to 
command admiration. 
Other places present themselves in which Fuchsias are turned out singly into 
the borders, or planted in groups ; and, once established, are considered to need no 
further tendance ; so that, whether they are destroyed down tb the ground by frost 
in the winter, or whether only the points of the shoots are killed, and the re- 
maining stems and branches left uninjured, they are alike sufi*ered to adjust them- 
selves to these peculiarities of circumstance, and to proceed without any assist- 
ance or cultivation. In consequence of this, the old woody parts, which mild 
winters do not damage, throw out their young laterals in the spring, and these are 
weakened by having to draw their supplies through the old wood, while they also 
materially impoverish the new suckers that are sent up from the roots ; and so 
the whole plant is frequently deteriorated, and robbed of its splendour. With the 
occurrence of another and succeeding warm winter, the deterioration is, in most 
cases, more than perpetuated. 
Now, when a plant of any of the common Fuchsias is placed out in the open 
border, and the winters happen to be just severe enough to deprive it of all its 
branches down to the very base, without harming the vital part which is just at the 
junction of the stem and roots, it will, if the soil be of a tolerably good nature, and 
the aspect well open to the sun, acquire the best, richest, and most ornamental 
character of which a Fuchsia is susceptible. It will become quite a thicket of 
healthy stems, annually increasing in number, and occupying a much wider 
circumference, while the branches will be abundantly laden with blossom throughout 
the whole of the flowering season. No starved specimen in a pot, or tree-like 
plant grown to whatever height, will bear the slightest comparison, for beauty or 
showiness, with such an object. 
Here, then, we conceive, are embodied the various particulars of treatment 
which combine to elevate a Fuchsia into something very superior to the wretched 
things of this sort that are usually met with ; and, indeed, into a plant of great, 
and decided, and enduring attractiveness. And though there be, in the case 
referred to, merely the elements of similar success as relates to pot-culture, these 
may be readily adapted and applied to every varying condition. We shall now 
enumerate them, and briefly dwell upon each. 
The first on which we must speak is freedom for the roots ; and we would have 
it distinctly understood, that no ordinary Fuchsia will thrive if its roots are at all 
cramped. Proof of this is to be found every day in multitudes of windows and 
greenhouses ; whereas, an evidence, equally convincing, that the reverse of this 
