April IK, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
311 
provide a firm rather retentive soil, and supply water carefully 
until they are set, using artificial heat with moderation. If the 
atmosphere be kept moderately dry they will grow firmly enough to 
'Set freely, and we should have less of the diseases to which the 
j.omato is subject. To allow the plants to become so dry at 
their roots as to flag during the time they are in flower is a great 
mistake and cannot be too strongly condemned. —Wm. Bardney. 
THE CULTURE OF FUCHSIAS. 
The old-fashioned method of treating the Fuchsia as a 
deciduous shrub still obtains to a very great extent, and there 
is no good reason why it should be abolished. For one thing, it 
is the method most easy to carry out in many gardens, as the 
plants may be stored in some dry frost-proof building in autumn, 
where they remain^ without causing any trouble until spring. 
Another point in their favour is that where large plants are 
required, the same specimens can be grown year after year 
with less trouble than by the method of raising young plants. 
There is no advantage in starting the plants too early, as they break 
strongly in a house where most of the heat is derived from the sun, 
and the beginning of April will be found to be quite early enough 
to start the season's growth. The method of pruning has some¬ 
thing to do with the after condition of the plants. A good rule is 
to cut clean out all weakly wood, and where strong shoots are too 
close together these also ought to be thinned, at the same time 
cutting in the wood from which the plant is to be furnished. Im¬ 
perfectly furnished plants may be renovated by cutting them down, 
and varieties of the habit of Mrs. Rundell must be cut rather hard 
back in order to secure a good bush. A Fuchsia will do well for 
several years in the same pot if well supplied with manure and 
plenty of water while in growth, and in this way good sized speci¬ 
mens can be grown successfully in comparatively small pots. But 
where it is thought necessary to repot the plants, the young 
growths should not be allowed to grow much before this is done! 
Some of the ball is broken off and a larger pot provided, so that a 
clear space of 1J to 2 inches is left for fresh soil round the roots. 
Jn pots of 13 inches diameter, 2 to 3 inches of rough drainage is 
little enough, and the ball should be sunk about a quarter of an 
■inch deeper than in the pot it was taken from. 
As to soil, the Fuchsia revels in an open light compost—say 
loam three parts, rough leaf soil and flaky manure two parts, and 
coarse sand two parts. The potting must be only moderately firm, 
or just firm enough to secure the old ball from being left dry, 
while the new soil receives water. When the plants are well started 
into growth the young shoots should be all pinched, and where too 
many break superfluous ones are to be rubbed off; the point to 
be aimed at being only a moderate number of strong breaks, which 
will each have room to develops and form a sufficient number of 
strong flowering shoots, instead of allowing the plant to expend its 
energies on a great number of weakly growths which are not so 
valuable or ornamental. If the plants are wanted for summer 
flowering they must be kept under glass, but if not required too 
early the plants will be all the better for being set out of doors 
about the beginning of June and taken into their flowering quarters 
when required. 
Pinching the shoots requires to be regulated very much accord¬ 
ing to the habit of the variety. Some, like Charming, require. 
•scarcely any pinching, the habit being so good. Though a good 
supply of water is very necessary in order to keep the plants in 
health, towards autumn the supply must be gradually lessened in 
order to help the ripening of the wood. 
Though a rough pyramidal habit is that generally aimed at 
in growing Fuchsias, they are at the same time amenable to other 
methods of training. By cutting down the stems to a couple of 
inches above the soil, and selecting about half a dozen of the 
strongest breaks for a groundwork, bushy plants may be secured. 
I have also grown the Fuchsia as a standard, and a few of these 
.may be grown with good effect. Strong growing varieties should 
be selected for this purpose, and in pruning the growths should 
but cut quite close back.—B. 
'THE PLANTING AND TREATMENT OF VINES. 
Having planted several Vines during the past three years, 
•perhaps my experience may be of interest to some readers, 
especially as there has been a difference of opinion on the subject! 
The Vines were planted in exactly the same manner as detailed by 
Mr. Harris ; and, like him, I fail to see where the barbarous treat¬ 
ment comes in, when water is used as a medium for disentangling 
the roots. When the roots are spread out the Vines make quite 
.twenty feeder^, where they would only make one if planted 
with the roots in a firm coil from pots. Within a short time after 
planting, say when the young growing shoot is upwards of 3 feet in 
length, the surface is “ alive with feeders,” then the shoots go 
ahead, and, like Mr. Harris, make such rods the first season as I am 
not likely to see when grown in a pot. In the Editor’s review of 
the last edition of Mr. Barron’s book on Vines the young Vines as 
grown here are alluded to, but I mention this merely as corrobora¬ 
tive testimony. 
The general rule with the treatment of young Vines is to run 
the growth to the top of the rafters, and oftentimes down the 
back wall ; then at pruning time this is usually cut away down to 
2 or 3 feet, so the care and trouble which have been bestowed on 
them for a whole season are thrown away. We merely carried out 
Mr. Taylor’s advice in the preparation the first season as detailed in 
his little book on the “ Vines at Longleat.” We allow the rods to 
grow 9 or 10 feet, then pinch them, and all sub-laterals are kept 
pinched in ; the consequence is we build up a good solid rod, 
which need not be shortened above a foot or so. The sub-laterals 
are cut out at the end of the season, care being taken not to injure 
the main leaf at its base, and the little shortening is done when 
the leaves commence falling. By the above treatment the main 
buds plump up, and the following season they break strongly at 
every eye without the trouble of bending the rods to force the 
lower buds into action. I have seen young rods almost refuse to 
break after the Vines were subjected to the running-up-to-the-top- 
of-the-house system. We allowed temporary Vines to run 12 feet, 
but by stopping and pinching in the sub-laterals the whole set of 
Vines broke evenly from base to summit. We were obliged to 
allow this run in consequence of the length to the rafter, the 
Vines being planted in the body of the house. On each Vine we 
allowed four good bunches. The Madresfield Court was excellent 
in bunch, fruit, and colour, and without a cracked berry. A little 
front air was continually left on from the time the G-rapes 
commenced stoning, and there was always a fair warmth in the 
pipes. We might have left eight bunches, but did not wish to 
overcrop to jeopardise the crop for this season and probably part of 
the rods next. 
My impression is that when the roots are spread out and the 
border kept mulched during the growing season new fibres take 
kindly to the surface of the border, and there is not the least 
trouble in keeping them there afterwards.—A. Young. 
IVY-LEAVED PELARGONIUMS. 
Wiiat an improvement has been made in the size, colour, and 
variety of these beautiful plants during the last ten years. Formerly 
they were only considered worth growing extensively for bedding 
purposes ; now they are grown in large quantities for supplying 
cut flowers. In pots of various sizes for associating with other 
plants, for house and conservatory decoration, in baskets for 
suspending from the roofs of houses, or when grown into large 
pyramidal-shaped plants they are most useful. Having at the 
present time some large and well-flowered specimens which com¬ 
mand more than passing notice, I hope these few cultural notes 
will be the means of inducing other readers of the Journal to try 
a few plants in the same way, feeling sure they will be amply satis¬ 
fied with the results. 
About this time last year we placed a few strong plants singly 
into 13-inch pots, using a compost of three parts loam, one of horse 
droppings, and a little lime rubble ; the loam was used in a rough 
state, the manure was passed through the half-inch sieve, and the 
lime rubble through one a little smaller. A stout stake was driven 
into the centre of the pot, two pieces of lath an inch wide, half an 
inch thick, and 21 feet long were nailed together in the centre and 
placed on the rim of the pot, so that each end projected an equal 
distance beyond the rim, under which a stout wire was placed, and 
the cross pieces of lath fastened securely with smaller wire to the 
ring under the rim of the pot. Another ring of stout wire was 
next made an inch less in diameter, and bound to the cross 
pieces of lath with wire ; two other rings of stout wire were 
then made, one of them being one-third less in diameter than the 
bottom ring, and the other a little larger than the top of the stake. 
Six stout pieces of wire were cut into equal lengths, the points 
turned in the form of a hook, one end of each being fastened to the 
small ring which was placed on the top of the stake ; these lengths 
of wire were then fastened equidistant around the medium-sized 
ring, placed about midway between the top of the stake and the 
bottom ring; this done, the wires that formed an oblique line were 
tightened and fastened to the bottom ring, taking care to have 
them at equal distances, so as to leave the trellis an evenly shaped 
pyramid. If the oblique wires are found too far apart for training 
the young growths it is an easy matter to run up smaller wires 
between them when the outline is once made with stout wires. 
