GENERAL TREATMENT OF FUCHSIAS. 
205 
manifests itself most clearly on those objects which are operated upon with readiness. 
Fuchsias afford a pointed example of the truth of this position. Although so 
free-growing that every one may have them in an ornamental condition with very 
little expenditure of labour, there is a most marked difference perceptible between 
the miserably stunted plants of the unpractised grower, and the large, glowing, 
luxuriant specimens reared by the skilful culturist. Plants of the latter character 
are, it is true, occasionally met with in the hands of the ignorant, where, by for- 
tuitous circumstances, or by the pursuance of good advice, they have been raised 
to an unusual degree of beauty. Cases of that kind are, however, sufficiently rare 
to render superiority an ordinary indication of skill, and this superiority may be 
as conspicuous in the instance of a Fuchsia as in one of the most delicate of the 
Heath tribe, notwithstanding the fact that a tender Heath cannot be grown at all 
by a person knowing nothing of the art of culture. Merit, in everything, (plant- 
growing included,) can very seldom be determined otherwise than by comparison ; 
and though the extremes of difference may hardly seem analogous, there is as much 
additional merit in growing a Fuchsia splendidly, to merely keeping it alive, as 
there is in cultivating a Heath well, to being unable to cultivate it at all. 
This proposition being now, as we think, duly established, and it being pretty 
clearly proved that Fuchsias cannot reasonably be neglected, because they appear to 
require no cleverness to bring them into a handsome state, — since cleverness is to 
be estimated by comparing its attainments with what the uninitiated are able to 
effect, — we shall advert to the principal features of difference between an inferior 
and a highly-cultivated Fuchsia, and explain how these differences are originated. 
A prevailing fallacy in the management of Fuchsias which are grown in large 
establishments, is to treat them like trees, and, by getting them to a remarkable 
size, in respect chiefly to height, it is supposed that a state most nearly approxi- 
mating to the natural one, and therefore the most beautiful, will be reached. It is 
not of much consequence whether this tree-like character is formed by pruning so 
as to make the plant a standard, or whether it is obtained by leaving a vigorous 
specimen to take its own course. In the first-mentioned instance, a highly curious 
object may be created ; and, if too great a height is not sought, a plant might 
thus be rendered in some measure ornamental and free-blooming. In the second 
case, there will be a more profuse production of bloom, and, for a lofty conservatory, 
such plants might be valuable. Both these classes of specimens are, however, 
very far from being equal, in regard to beauty, to those which are treated as low 
bushes, in a way we shall afterwards describe ; for the Fuchsia is not, from its 
nature, adapted for attaining its highest elegance and loveliness when grown as a 
tall or standard plant. 
In gardens of smaller extent, where the Fuchsia is cultivated as a pot-plant, 
the great error is one of an opposite class ; for it is there kept in much too diminu- 
tive a state. Confined at the roots, and grown in the commonest soil, which is not 
at all enriched, Fuchsias are mostly maintained in a small stunted condition, and 
