320 
THE FUCHSIA. 
because the pistil is very much exposed, and 
the pollen is easily got at. Select for seed- 
bearing, plants of good habit, and with flowers 
which have some good properties ; those which 
are to supply the pollen may be selected for 
some particular quality, as colour, shape, or 
whatever else may be wanting to make the 
others better. When Fuchsia fulgens first 
got about, everybody was seeding from it, and 
those who pretended to cross or fertilize at all 
used the smaller varieties for the purpose : 
the result was, that almost all the novelties 
were of the coarse ugly habit of fulgens, and 
the flower in general worse instead of better 
than the parent. "We advised in early days 
to save seed from the globosa varieties fer- 
tilized with the pollen of the fulgens, if large 
flowers were wished for. In all cases, as the 
parent or seed-bearing plant is sure to pre- 
dominate, so far as habit goes, in all the 
seedlings, it should be invariably a handsome 
growing variety. Having selected the plant 
to seed from, take the pollen from any one 
whose colour or texture you wish to impart, 
and with this pollen cover the pistil as soon 
as it becomes glutinous, and before its own 
pollen falls upon it : tie a piece of matting or 
other slight thing to mark the flower you have 
fertilized, and remove all the other flowers and 
buds of flowers directly you observe the 
pod swells; this will hasten the growth and 
perfecting of the seed. When the pod has 
ripened it will be soft and full of pulp, which 
holds the seed, and this may be kept until it 
begins to shrivel or turn mouldy, when the 
seed should be taken from the pulp, and care- 
fully dried before it is put away. 
RAISING THE SEEDLINGS. 
In a wide-mouthed pot — which is preferable 
to a seed pan, on account of the body of mould 
to retain the necessary moisture — sow the seed 
very thinly in compost of nearly all rotted 
turfs, with a little sand, if necessary, to lighten 
it ; sift a little of this through a fine sieve to 
cover the seeds, and place it in the greenhouse 
under a hand-glass. Any time from January 
to May will do, but the sooner the better. 
As soon as the seed begins to vegetate, it may 
be taken into the propagating house or a warm 
part of the greenhouse ; and when the plants 
are large enough to handle, prick them out an 
inch apart in wide-mouthed pots, and let them 
be covered with a glass for a few days until 
they fairly establish themselves. They may 
now be placed in the greenhouse without 
covering, and be allowed to grow until they 
nearly touch each other, and may then be 
potted in sixty-sized pots, one in each, and if 
you have frame room out of doors, they should 
be placed on a hard bottom and be covered with 
the glasses at night, and in foul weather ; 
here they may remain, watered at proper 
seasons, and having all the air that can be 
given, until the roots fill the pots, when they 
may be all shifted into five-inch pots, and stood 
out of doors altogether. Great care must be 
taken that they are regularly watered, and 
that they stand on a hard bottom, that they 
may not strike their roots through the pots 
into the ground, for that creates an excited 
growth, and the plants suffer when removed. 
The great object in growing seedlings without 
attempting to top them or stop the branches, 
is that we may see their natural growth, for 
there is as much value in habit as in flower ; 
and a bad habit with a fine bloom should only 
be tolerated until as good a flower can be got 
on a fine habit. As the winter approaches, the 
pots should be removed into a cold frame, and 
with a hard bottom ; they do not require heat, 
but they must be covered from frost ; they 
will in all probability lose their leaves, and 
they should not be watered — not that they 
will do without some moisture, but while there 
is any, they ought not to be watered more than 
just to keep them alive. Towards the spring 
they will indicate growth by the swelling of 
the buds ; the balls may be turned out and 
examined, and if the pots are full of roots, 
change them all for thirty-two-sized pots ; give 
them only the loam of rotted turfs ; if this 
cannot be had, and you have only plain loam, 
add one part of leaf mould to every two parts 
of the loam ; and if the loam be rather poor 
than otherwise, make three parts loam, one 
part leaf mould, and one part cow dung, or 
dung from a melon bed rotted into mould. 
In these pots they may be set to grow in a 
greenhouse, for when they begin to grow they 
would be very easily damaged by a slight 
frost, that is to say, the young growth would 
be cut off, so that the growth afterwards would 
not be natural ; the effect would be the same 
as topping all the ends, which, however desi- 
rable in some plants, cannot be so with seed- 
lings, which you require to exhibit their 
natural growth. As they bloom, throw away 
or give away all that are not improvements 
on what we have already, or sufficiently novel 
and good to be worth cultivation ; no self 
ought to be retained unless it be very remark- 
able ; no coarse large sorts should be kept 
unless the corolla be very distinct, and the 
plant of very fine habit. Many may be tole- 
rated for their colour, some for their contrast, 
but none would in thesejdays be considered at 
all fine unless they showed the inside of the 
sepal, which is always the best surface, and all 
the corolla, which is the great ornament of the 
flower. Early in June they may be placed 
in the open air, and have all the sun and rain, 
but as the roots next the side of the pot are 
soon scorched unless the plants are liberally 
