HINTS FOB THE CULTURE OF TOPULAR FLOWERS. 
can be rendered very dwarf, and ii will flower 
well. 
p UO H8iA. — There is very little difficulty 
•owing the Fuchsia in perfection, not as 
e them at exhibitions now, but as they 
ought t-> be, compact, mat, well-furnished 
plants, blooming all over, and full of leaf 
as well as flower. The soil best suited 
f>-r this, is three-fourths turfy loam, and 
the other fourth peat. If you have none 
hut plain loam, without the turf having 
been rotted in it, in quantity, let it be half 
loam, one-fourth leaf-mould, and one-fourth 
neat. In the absence of leaf-mould, use dung 
thoroughly rotted in mould. All the Fuchsias 
;\e seen have been grown too fast for 
their beauty ; and it may be safely taken as a 
rule in plant growing, that if they are excited 
too much they grow thin in foliage, the leaves 
being further apart, the branches thinner, the 
plant more naked, and, in spite of all that can 
be done, more ugly. In a large sixty sized 
pot of this stuff, well drained, put your small 
plant or struck cutting, and let it be placed on 
a front shelf in the green-house, or near the 
glass in a conservatory, or, for want of either, 
in a pit. and give air on mild days. As soon as 
the roots reach the sides of the pot, it may be 
changed to one a size larger. If the plant 
grow pyramid form, and handsome, let it go on; 
if it makes a long straight shoot, and gives no 
indication of side shoots, it must be shortened; 
but it will be a more handsome plant by far if 
it grow naturally, and throw out side branches, 
without being checked at top. If any of the 
lateral or side shoots grow too vigorously for 
the rest, they should be checked at once by 
shortening them. If the plant show bloom 
before it be grown as you wish it, the buds 
may be all picked off; but, generally speaking, 
you should not depend on one or half-a-dozen i 
plants of a sort, so that, if one should bloom 
out of season, it may be taken into the dwelling- 
house, or used as an ornament, though it were 
very unfit for exhibition. The Fuchsia only 
requh-es to be grown in the natural way, 
without more heat than the green-house, or 
even in a pit without any, to be handsome, 
and wonderfully different to the things shown 
now, which, in addition to the natural coarse- 
ness of a great many, are rendered doubly 
repulsive from their rank growth. It is the 
curse of Floriculture, that size, even to vul- 
garity and coarseness, gets rewarded by Horti- 
cultural Societies. The seed of the Fuchsia is 
contained in a pulpy berry ; these may be 
squeezed and the pulp removed by washing, 
when the seed, after drying, may be sown in 
pots or boxes, placed in the green-house in 
April, or when it is gathered. We prefer 
April, as the seedlings have not then to get 
through the winter in their young state. 
When they are large enough, they may be 
potted out in small sixty sized pots, and great 
attention must be paid to the watering, as 
.small pots soon dry up. Continue shifting 
them as often as the root touches the sides, and 
let them have all the sun until the height of 
the bloom. 
Geranium. — The cuttings of Geraniums 
may be struck all the year, even in winter 
time if it were necessary, but they are as well 
taken after the flowering is done as at any 
time. They will strike under a glass in the 
common border. When struck they may be put 
into large sixty sized pots in the loam formed 
by rotted turfs, turfy peat, and decomposed 
dung, in equal parts, well mixed. If this 
appears too adhesive, silver sand must be used 
to make it less so, but not more than an eighth 
of the whole bulk. These pots must be placed 
on a hard ground, or boards, or slabs, where 
no worms can get into the pots ; attend con- 
stantly to watering, and as soon as the}' fill 
the pots with roots, or rather, as soon as the 
roots will reach the side of the pots, shift them 
to twenty-fours. If the plant grows handsome, 
let it grow its own way ; if it is making too 
long a shoot, shorten it, but in this pot let it 
remain all the winter, and flower in spring. A 
little liquid manure will be of use as the 
flowers are opening. Allow but one truss to 
perfect its bloom if you want to see the flower 
at its best ; but it will not materially disparage 
it if you allow all the trusses that come 
naturally to perfect their flowers. In the 
winter the Geranium only requires to be near 
the glass, and to be protected from frost. The 
forced ones may be increased in temperature ; 
but the forcing, when it is done ever so well, 
is but a miserable substitute for a well-grown 
plant in season. In the event of being at- 
tacked with green fly, syringing and fumiga- 
ting must be resorted to; and, when plants are 
being forced, they should be frequently syringed 
all over the foliage before closing the house in 
the evening. The seed of the Geranium may 
be sown the greater part of the year, but early 
spring is the best ; they may be sown in pots, 
or boxes, or pans, thinly, and covered slightly. 
They will be none the worse for a little heat 
to start them, but the green-house is the proper 
place for them. As soon as they have become 
large enough to prick out, put four or five 
round the edge of a large sixty sized pot, and 
let them grow a month before they are potted 
into single pots, when they may be placed one 
each in a forty-eight sized pot, and put out of 
doors on some hard substance, to prevent the 
intrusion of worms, and, when they fill the 
pots with root, shifted to twenty-fours. In 
these they maybe wintered in the green-house, 
and flowered in the spring. The sole reason 
why seedlings are rarely seen so good after 
