THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
141 
conservatory. To secure large plants, remove the first flower-spikes 
before tlie flowers expand, and use liquid manure alternately. 
Phlox Drummondi. — The varieties of this phlox are all of 
great value for conservatory decoration. They can be grown singly 
or several in a pot, and when large specimens are required, the last- 
mentioned course will be the best. They may be grown in a pit or 
greenhouse until they are in flower. They will require stopping 
once or twice, and should be supported with neat stakes when neces- 
sarv. The scarlet and purple varieties are the most attractive. 
Thunbergia. — All the varieties are useful for baskets, but they 
mav be grown advantageously as dwarf specimens. To produce 
these, sow early in the month, and place the seed-pots in heat. 
Prick the seedlings off into five-inch pots, and immediately they are 
nicely rooted transfer them to pots two sizes larger. Then fix in 
the pots a wire trellis or a few branches of birch, for the growth to 
trail over. Syringe them frequently overhead, to prevent red- 
spider, which are very partial to the leaves, taking up their quarters 
upon the foliage. 
PUCHSIAS AS BEDDING PLANTS. 
BY HEXET CAXNELL, E.E.H.S., 
The Nursery, Station Road, Woolwich. 
the bedding season is once more at hand, it appears 
desirable that we should consider the claims fuchsias 
have upon us as bedding plants. Their value for con- 
servatory decoration is well known and appreciated, 
but their capabilities for garden decoration are not 
estimated so highly as they should be. 
In the cultivation of fuchsias as bedding plants there are three 
essential points to which special attention must be directed. The 
first is to select beds in moderately sheltered positions, the second 
to well prepare and to liberally enrich the staple soil with manure 
or leaf-mould, and the third to put out strong plants. It must 
be distinctly understood that fuchsias do not thrive satisfactorily in 
a dry, hot position, fully exposed to the rough winds, and they are 
therefore quite unfitted for terrace gardens or other situations 
similarly exposed ; neither are they adapted for geometrical gardens. 
The best way, in my opinion, to deal with them, is to select a bed in 
an isolated and rather shady position, and then fill it with several 
sorts, somewhat regularly intermixed as regards the colours of the 
flowers. Then if they make satisfactory progress they will soon 
form a solid mass of healthy green foliage, regularly studded with 
their pendant flowers. 
■With reference to preparing the beds, it is only necessary to say 
that the soil should undergo a preparation by first dressing it liberally 
with well-decayed hotbed or stable manure, leaf-mould, or vegetable 
May. 
