4.3(> On Training the Fiichsui. 
Article II. — On a New Method of Training the Fuchsia. 
By G. A. L. 
Gentlemex, 
It is not my object in this paper, to write a panegyric on 
the Fuchsia, or to give directions for its general treatment, both being 
too well known to require any comment ; but I wish to draw the at- 
tention of your readers to the advantages of training these plants with 
a single, straight, and naked stem, to the height of three, four, or five 
feet, according to circumstances and taste, and then allowing them to 
form a bushy and pyramidal head ; because, as the coral flowers of 
the Fuchsia are produced at the points of the branches, these are 
bent into a graceful and elegant arch by the weight of the flowers ; 
thus giving the plants, when in flower, a beautiful and picturesque 
effect, far suqjassing the loose and rambling ones we often see in our 
green-houses and conser^^atories. Let it not be supposed that I lay 
the least claim to originality or novelty for what I have here recom- 
mended, for this training of the Fuchsia has been in practice for some 
years, but not to the extent I think it deserves. I recollect seeing, 
about three years ago, in the splendid domical conservatory of Mr. 
Knight, of the Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, two splendid specimens of 
the Fuchsia gracilis trained in this manner, and judging from the thick- 
ness of their stems, and from the size of the tubs in which they were 
planted, they must have been many years old. 
It were idle to give directions for the training of a plant, that will 
readily occur to the mind of every gardener, hut I must be allowed 
to observe that, during the progress of training, one third of the 
whole length of the stem, must be covered with branches, and conse- 
quently with leaves, and as the plant gradually increases in height, 
so, in exact proportion, gradually remove the lower branches, by cut- 
ting them off close to the stem. 
The more scientific of your readers will readily see the reason of 
this caution, for the leaves being, as it were, the lungs of the vegeta- 
bles, when too great a number of these are removed, the whole 
economy of respiration is interrupted, and if the plant be not allowed 
to recover, (which it will strive to do,) and preserve the quantity of 
leaves necessary to carry on the vital functions, it soon dies. For 
instance, I have so trained the Fuchsia, that in three or four feet of 
stem there has not been a single branch, and only a few leaves at 
the top of the stem : the plant tried to recover the requisite supply of 
air, by throwing out fresh shools and leaves — these I had constantly 
removed ; and at length, after a vain struggle, nature yielded, — the 
plant withered and died — I may literally say, with the vulgar expres- 
sion, "for want of breath." 
