134 
CULTURE OF FUCHSIAS. 
a greater number of vigorous buds would be emitted, the plant would be kept low, 
dense, and spreading, and its energies would be appropriately thrown into the 
nearest and most convenient channels. To defer this pruning, however, till the 
buds have begun to swell or burst, would altogether negative its effect, and cause 
irremediable mischief; so that whenever our suggestion is adopted, — and we would 
urge its importance on every grower of the Fuchsia, — the plants should be pruned 
immediately on shedding their leaves. If anything were wanting to demonstrate the 
value of the practice, it is furnished in the fact that those species which are usually 
cultivated in the open ground, and have their annual growth destroyed every winter, 
invariably form more luxuriant shoots in the ensuing season. 
jP. coccinea, gracilis, tenella, and perhaps macrostemon^ are, of all the species, 
the most suitable for the external borders, from the readiness with which they emit 
suckers from the old stocks after being cut down by frost. The first of these has 
proved itself so hardy in the neighbourhood of London, that, during the last winter, 
plants have stood wholly uncovered in the borders, and are now flourishing in the 
most robust manner. The others, coming from the same country, are no doubt 
quite as capable of enduring cold, and the smallest protection for the roots will be 
found adequate to their preservation. Since they do not begin to flower till the 
month of July, they can hardly be employed for the beds of the flower-garden 
unless the spaces between them be filled up with early- blooming plants through 
the spring ; as vacant, or virtually vacant plots, cannot be tolerated at so interesting 
a period of the year. Should the insertion of such auxiliaries not be consonant 
with the wishes of the flower-gardener, a quantity of Fuchsias may be kept in pots 
purposely for transplantation, and their flower-buds removed if they open too early. 
For the borders, there can be no objection of that kind, and whether singly or in 
masses, these plants create a display for three or four months which few other 
exotics can rival. 
In the propagation of Fuchsias, those which produce suckers might be multi- 
plied by detaching them in the winter, spring, or any convenient period ; but the 
ordinary way of increase is by cuttings. It is better, however, where plants are 
abundant, to make use of slips, or the lower parts of the young shoots, pulling 
them off carefully so as not to damage the branch on which they are growing. 
After cutting (not plucking) off the lowermost leaves, and reducing the shoots in 
length if needful, they can be planted in a light sandy loam at the foot of a south 
wall, and a hand-glass placed over them, which must be shaded through the day. 
The glass should be kept close, save while watering, for a fortnight or three weeks, 
when the shade may be taken away by degrees, air sparingly admitted by 
propping up the edge of the glass, and the cuttings will shortly afterwards be found 
to have rooted, when they are to be potted, and placed in a frame. We have 
described this process because a house or frame is wholly unnecessary, and artificial 
heat quite superfluous. June is the fittest month for the operation, the shoots being 
then in that half-mature condition which is most congenial. 
