THE FUCHSIA. 
321 
watered, nothing is more necessary than atten- 
tion to that point. The object of growing 
them out of doors is to get them of their natural 
colour ; house culture will often blanch the 
sepals that would otherwise be red, or foxy ; 
and it is quite necessary to see what they 
would be without this blanching. Such as 
are worth taking care of may be removed into 
the greenhouse or conservatory ; and may, if 
increase be desired, be propagated immediately 
by cuttings, as we have already directed. 
FLOWERING THE FUCHSIA. 
Here proper regard must be paid to the 
habit. If the blooms are scanty along the 
branch, but very thick at the ends or towards 
the ends, the buds should be thinned out, so 
as not to touch each other or be crowded. The 
thinning of the flowers will make those which 
are left finer, and come to perfection more 
evenly ; nothing is more common than to see 
the buds which are left clustering towards the 
end remain green, while those near the bottom 
bloom and decay. It is a decided fault if the 
flowers do not come out pretty nearly toge- 
ther. 
FUCHSIAS IN BEDS OR BORDERS. 
In planting beds or borders there is room 
for a little taste. The outer row should be 
very dwarf; those next to them inwards 
should be taller, and of another colour if 
possible ; and the further they get from the 
edge, the taller should the natural height of 
the variety be. When bedded out they ought 
all to be small, well established in pots, but 
not grown much. The tallest growing sorts 
should be at the back of a border, or in the 
centre if it be in a bed. There are some that 
will run up conical and several feet high ; and 
regard must always be had to the height they 
attain. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
The Fuchsia is a very sporting flower, but 
like many others there is a great sameness in 
a batch of seedlings ; and it is not enough to 
pick out those which differ but little from our 
present varieties, or from each other, for that 
has been the great evil. Many hundreds that 
have been catalogued are positively worthless, 
and were so from the first. It must be a very 
remarkable one that is worth saving now, 
without it reflexes ; the difference between 
one which does and one which does not reflex, 
may be seen from our engravings. The one 
shows the outside of the petals, which is almost 
invariably coarser and duller than the inside, 
besides which it covers instead of exposes the 
corolla, which is the chief beauty ; and unless 
the sepals and the corolla are of decidedly 
48. 
different colours, so as to form a contrast, they 
are scarcely worth keeping. 
MONTHLY TREATMENT. 
January. — All the plants are now resting, 
and must have no water ; they may be placed 
on the ground in the greenhouse, or be in 
cold frames and pits. A little seed may be 
sown this month or next. 
February. — The plants now indicate 
growth by the swelling of the eyes, and in 
some instances the actual bursting of them ; 
they should, therefore, be pruned, repotted, 
and set to work. In pruning plants which 
have grown to any size, regard must be had 
to the shape you wish the plants to assume ; 
all the weak spindly twigs must be removed, 
for they can be of no use, but, on the contrary, 
they would make a confusion : generally all 
weak ends should be taken off and shortened 
to the stronger wood. Seed may be sown 
this month. Seedlings of last year should not 
be pruned at all, however ugly they may be. 
March. — Towards the end of this month 
the plants should be turned out, and the balls 
examined to see if the roots are beginning to 
matt next the pot : if they be, there should 
be another change to a larger sized pot : if 
they have not begun to matt round the side of 
the pot, they may remain till they do. Any 
of the branches that are growing out of the 
form you wish, may be shortened ; branches 
growing across each other, must be altered by 
shortening one, or taking it away altogether. 
Seed sown in February and March must be 
kept moist, and covered with glass, indepen- 
dently of being in a greenhouse or pit. The 
prunings of the plants may be used as cuttings, 
if wanted. 
April. — The plants now grow fast, and 
must be attended to, according to the shape 
they are to grow. Of the necessary training 
and pruning enough has been said, but you 
cannot carry out the directions too strictly. 
If the plant seems sufficiently well-shaped, 
and indicates a graceful growth, it may go on, 
but if it be not full enough, the shoots must 
be all topped, or at least such of them as are in 
places where the plant or the head of the plant 
wants to be thickened. Seeds that are well 
up, and the plants large enough to handle, 
must be pricked out an inch apart from each 
other, in pots of any size, because the number 
in each will depend on this only. The best 
way to prick them out is, to begin round the 
edge with the first circle, the plants touching 
the pot ; a circle one inch within should be 
next filled ; and then another circle within 
the second, and so on till the pot is filled. 
Examine the growing plants, to see if they 
require larger pots : watering must be well 
attended to. 
Y 
