196 
THE LADIES MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
Those who are fond of these plants should always have two sets for 
their windows, one which will flower early and which should be cut down 
in August, and another for keeping the window green all the winter. If 
the former are cut down at this season (August), they will soon push out 
branches and leaves, and make pretty plants for the next year; the latter 
can be cut down when, they begin to grow in spring, and they will come 
in late again as before. 
The pruning of the Fuchsias and other woody plants should be deferred 
until the buds begin to burst in spring, and then it will be seen what 
parts have died and require cutting out. They will bear any cutting at 
this time, and may be trained in many different ways, as the fancy may 
dictate. The roots of all these plants should be examined at this season, 
and also in autumn, when the soil will sometimes be found heavy and 
sour: if in this state, shake a considerable quantity off, take out the 
worms, put in fresh drainage, and repot with the compost recommended 
above. 
There are other two classes, namely, hard-wooded and herbaceous 
greenhouse plants, several of which are well adapted for growing in 
windows, and must not be omitted in a notice of this kind; but these, 
and the different modes of propagation, destroying insects, &c., must form 
the subject of a future communication. 
ON THE PRINCIPLES OF COLOURS, AS APPLIED TO FLOWER- 
GARDENS. 
A great deal has been said lately in the gardening periodicals on the 
arrangement of colours in flower-gardens ; and attention appears to have 
been drawn to the subject by a French work, which appeared some time 
since, on the laws affecting colours, by a M. Chevreul. It seems that the 
colours in some tapestry sent out from the Gobelins were not so brilliant, 
and that the French government employed M. Chevreul to examine into 
the cause; when it was found that the fault did not lie in the colours 
themselves, but in the manner in which they were contrasted with each 
other. This discovery led Mr. Chevreul to try a great many experiments 
with coloured wafers, which he stuck on white paper; when he found 
that each of the primitive colours has what he calls its complementary 
colours, that is, one directly opposite, which, when mixed with it, will 
make a dingy white, or a dull black. 
To discover the complementary colour of any given colour-—say red, 
for example—it is said only to be necessary to fix the eyes earnestly on a 
