THE FUCHSIA. 
310 
resting during the winter months in a cold pit 
or greenhouse. 
THE TALL GROWING KINDS. 
If any thing ever showed the folly of the 
one shift system its application to Fuchsias 
was that one thing. In the varieties, like 
Venus Victrix, and many more, rapid growth 
is detrimental to beauty. They should be 
grown in the loam from rotted turf only ; they 
require no excitement ; the cuttings when 
struck should be potted as directed for the 
globosa, the change of soil only excepted ; the 
cutting should be topped, so as to leave only 
two joints above the soil, and one of these 
should be close down to the compost. As the 
laterals grow, pinch the tops off, and this will 
induce other laterals from the first shoots ; by 
avoiding dung in the compost, and not giving 
much room in the pots, and allowing but a 
limited supply of water, these plants will grow 
shorter jointed; and by continual watchful- 
ness and stopping all the shoots at the third 
joints, and merely removing altogether such 
shoots as are in the way, fine bushy growth can 
be maintained, even in the most ugly kinds. 
When the plant has grown enough to promise 
a handsome finishing growth, let the shoots 
all grow but such as are in the way of each 
other ; and though it may not be half so large 
a plant as might be grown under other manage- 
ment, it will be found uniformly more beauti- 
ful. It may be allowed to go on to flower, and 
will repay well for the additional trouble. 
In a general way the Fuchsia luxuriates 
in rich soil, but nineteen of every twenty 
plants that are exhibited are thoroughly 
spoiled by the rank growth. The great 
straggling specimens that have been shown as 
examples of one season's growth have been 
enough to disgust a man of taste; for rapid 
growth is always against appearances, and 
the very feature which is shown as a specimen 
of skill in culture is evidence of a total miscon- 
ception of what the plant ought to be, and of a 
coarse or vitiated taste that has done much to 
retard floriculture — a vulgar notion that size is 
a quality tobe appreciated before beauty. There 
is nothing moi'e easy than to grow a fuchsia 
of a large size. It may, for the sake of occu- 
pying less room, be potted from a cutting to 
a two and a half inch pot, and placed in a 
moderate stove or warm greenhouse, so as to get 
a gentle bottom heat; a common cucumber bed 
that is declining would do for some time. 
The instant the roots of the plant reach the 
side of the pot, shift it into a larger sized one, 
and repeat the treatment : as it will grow 
rapidly, change it to a pot a size larger the 
instant the roots reach the side, and continue 
its growth. Should it show bloom before its 
time, pick eve:ybud off as soon as it appears; 
but by continuing the rapid growth the flower 
very seldom troubles us. In this way the 
advantage over the one shift system — which 
means planting the cutting at once into the 
largest sized pot — is, that the plants do not 
occupy so much room until they have attained 
their maturity : but the roots must not be 
allowed to matt against the side ; the shift 
must take place as soon as the roots reach, and 
before it makes any growth upon the surface 
of the pot ; for all that can be done for a plant 
wanted to grow rapidly is to see that it has 
no check by reason of a want of nourishing 
material for it to grow in. In addition to this 
some use liquid manure ; but when the pot is 
changed before the roots matt together, and 
the compost is rich, there is no need of any 
thing more exciting. The plants so grown 
will, however, only be like those shown so ugly 
at the principal shows ; there will be nothing 
elegant about them ; the joints will be further 
apart, consequently the foliage will be poorer, 
and the plants much more straggling than they 
ought to be. 
STRIKING CUTTINGS. 
There is not a weed that strikes more freely 
than the fuchsia. It has been the custom to 
cut up the pieces, so as to have a joint at the 
bottom, and one above the surface, and in this 
way they may be struck by thousands under 
a common hand-glass in a shady border ; but 
as a rule without an exception, slight bottom 
heat will always hasten the striking of cuttings, 
no matter what they are ; and, perhaps, if 
there are many thousand cuttings to strike, it 
would be worth making a slight hot-bed in a 
shady corner, or where there is a facility for 
shading, and to put about three inches of good 
sandy compost upon it ; then with hand-glasses 
mark the spaces to be occupied ; into these 
spaces place the cuttings very thick, and cover 
with the glass after watering. This may be 
done in the spring or fall of the year. The 
glasses must be frequently lifted to give air, 
but never left off, unless it were in case of a 
warm evening or morning, when there is a 
gentle shower. In ordinary collections a few 
cuttings may be placed in a pot under a bell 
glass, and put into a frame or in the green- 
house, and they will strike like so much couch 
grass : in short, so that the cuttings are placed 
in some sort of compost, watered in, and 
shaded, it would be difficult to prevent them 
from striking. 
SAVING SEED. 
The Fuchsia seeds freely enough when in 
good health and brought into bloom early ; but 
the desire to grow new varieties may induce 
the cultivator to fertilize them artificially, 
instead of allowing them to take their chance. 
There is no flower more easily fertilized, 
