398 
THE FUCHSIA 
got better in the same way. We hold, too, 
that ;i globe-shaped flower is the form we re- 
quire, no tube is wanted ; and when the sepals 
have formed a globe close before opening, they 
should alter opening retlex or turn back and 
form another globe with the inner surface of 
the petals outside. We ground all this upon 
the properties of bloom as already laid down 
by Glenny, and not oh any notions of our own; 
for at first we began to doubt the propriety of 
any such arrangement, until we tried it by the 
test of experience, and the exercise of taste; 
and we, like others, are convinced it is right, 
and that nine out of every ten sent out, and 
advertized to be sent out, are positively a take 
in. At the exhibitions of the present year, 
and we have been to all of those in and near the 
metropolis, not one collection of Fuchsias in a 
dozen could boast of three good plants. Coarse- 
ness and sameness have predominated so much 
as to destroy all interest in the flower; and the 
sight of the Globosa, Formosa elegans, 
Lowerii, Ricartoni, or Venus vertrix with 
all its faults, has been quite a relief to the 
rough and ugly things that were spread about 
the tables. This is not as it should be, and 
we are quite sure the proper taste will prevail, 
and new flowers will be found more consonant 
with good judgment and refinement. Instead 
of having the Fuchsia a rough ill-looking 
ramping plant, with ugly brick-coloured 
flowers, or indefinite monsters, struggling be- 
tween green and dirty whites or pinks, we 
shall have a law laid down by the Societies 
themselves, making it a condition that there 
shall be a contrast between the sepals and the 
corollas ; and it would be well if judges were 
appointed who knew good from bad growth, 
for hitherto the Fuchsia has been very bad, 
and the judgment much worse. 
A few rules for growing all kinds may be 
useful here, because the plant is now so dis- 
torted, that there is nothing like good sound 
growth to be seen. First, then, strike the 
cuttings, and in the preparation of these it 
has been usual to make every cutting have two 
eyes, one to be the base for the root to strike 
from, and one above ground to grow. It has, 
however, been asserted upon what we ought 
to call good authority, that the cuttings of 
Fuchsias, and of Camellias, will strike without 
a joint under ground, so that every eye will 
make a plant. Mr. Fairbain, of Peckham, 
late of the Wandsworth Road, was the ori- 
ginator of the practice with Camellias, and he 
struck hundreds not more than an inch long, 
the base of them not cut at a joint, but in the 
clean wood, of which he left an inch under the 
eye that was to grow; and from the base of 
this plain wood, without a joint near to it or 
at all under ground, come out its roots all 
round alike, and very freely, and rather 
quicker than those left with a joint at bottom. 
This is a most important communication made 
to us by a party who saw Mr. Fairbain prac- 
tise it, and as it has been made public it is 
proper that it should be coupled with the name 
of its inventor. Mr. Fairbain has confirmed 
the fact with regard to Camellia Stocks ; and 
so far as Fuchsias are concerned, it rests upon 
the original communicator, who said that, 
grounded on the practice of Mi*. Fair- 
bain with the Camellia, he had succeeded in 
the same way with the Fuchsia. There is no 
harm, therefore, in trying a few with only 
one joint, and that above the soil, by which 
means every piece fit for a cutting upon the 
old and safe plan, would make two upon the 
new one; try half a dozen, therefore, cut with- 
out a joint at bottom, but do not trust many, 
for we are very loth to recommend new fan- 
gled plans of doing things already done well ; 
yet it is of such vast importance to double 
the number of plants that can be made from 
a new or scarce thing, that it is well worth 
the experiment; we are trying it at the 
moment we are writing, but the result cannot 
be known before this. is in print. Place your 
cuttings pretty close together in a pot filled 
all but three quarters of an inch with compost, 
and the top three quarters of an inch with 
silver sand ; stick your cuttings in so as to 
touch the soil but not go into it, cover them 
with a bell glass, whose edge shall go close 
into the sand, and subject them to slight 
bottom heat ; in three or four weeks they will 
be struck. The bell glass should be wiped 
dry every morning inside, and the cuttings 
be well watered ; when they are struck pot 
them into large sixties, (pots sixty to the cast,) 
and place them in a cold frame with a hard 
bottom to let the water run off, and keep 
worms out ; let them be freely watered, but 
they require to be well drained with crocks 
inside the. pot. The glasses may be kept 
close down the first twenty-four hours, after 
which they require air, and the glasses should 
not be ever closed ; but in the very hottest of 
the day some light shading should be provided 
to keep the heat off, as in small pots it soon 
bakes the soil inside if exposed to the fuK 
glare. Yet, there must be no light taken 
away, or they will be drawn up weakly. They 
would do just as well put out of doors altogether 
as in frames, except that in frames they are so 
easily shaded ; but, we have had them out of 
doors and put tulip irons or hoops over them, 
so that a covering could be speedily given. The 
best covering is a light calico, which is cheap, 
though it only lasts a season. In this way 
may the young plants be grown until the roots 
reach the sides of the pots and begin to work 
round them. In the mean time, however, 
you must, according to the habit of your plants, 
