THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[February 28. 
296 
and springing up in abundance on every side. I 
have learned to love the groundsel for the sake of my 
own canary, whose fondness for it is extreme: the 
moment he espies it in my hand, he hops and chirps 
in ecstacy; and appears to relish the young leaves as 
much as he does the flowers. This plant softens 
water in a very remarkable manner, when it is poured 
upon it in a boiling state; and tire water then is a 
very useful application to the skin when irritated by 
cold in winter. For chapped hands—from which 
many persons suffer greatly in cold weather — it 
would, no doubt, prove a relief; and a more simple 
remedy, or one of easier attainment, can scarcely 
ofter itself. The juice of this herb is excellent for 
diseases of the skin, used as an outward application ; 
and one of the species which are natives of Britain, 
called botanically the Senecio Sarracenicus, was used 
by the Saracens for the healing of wounds. There 
are nine species of this plant indigenous to our 
country; but there are five hundred and ninety-six 
species known to botanists, of which some are very 
beautiful, and cultivated as garden-flowers. The 
groundsel grows wildly now throughout almost every 
land, but originally it flourished only in some parts 
of Europe, and the southern parts of Asia and Africa, 
where, on the sandy plains, their bright colours re¬ 
semble those of our border varieties. It is said that, 
wherever colonists break up and cultivate the soil 
these flowers spring up to greet them. What a pang! 
what a thrill of home must shoot through the heart 
of a settler, when among tire new and strange vege¬ 
tation ol his adopted land, the well known weed of 
his English garden rises before him! Wo think 
nothing of it now ; we root it up and throw it away; 
but in America, in Australia, what language would 
its soft, downy blossoms utter! How it would 
breathe of the fields—the hedges of England; of her 
cottages, and her smiling gardens—dear, as they 
must ever be, to her sons, amid all their growing 
wealth in distant climes. Insignificant as we think 
this weed, it has its uses and its language. It beau¬ 
tifies the burning plains of Africa with rich and 
glowing colours; it climbs the rugged steeps of the 
storm-beaten Andes, and blooms in desolate places 
where no tree can live, where hurricanes perpetually 
thunder, and almost on the confines of eternal snows. 
What varied scenes—what terrible sights and sounds, 
and seasons, this quiet-looking flower can brave— 
seasons that wither and uproot the trees of the wood! 
What a lesson to man’s heart! The pitiless blast 
sweeps over the lowly plant, and leaves it unharmed; 
but the lofty tree cannot sustain its fury, and shrinks 
away to the sheltered valley, below its reach. Let 
this pretty, unpresuming weed speak, before we throw 
it away. It tells us that storms and trials pass harm¬ 
lessly over the head of him who is the follower of a 
“meek and lowly” Master—who dwells quietly be¬ 
neath the shadow of the everlasting Rock, in'that 
“ hiding-place ” which screens him from every blast 
as it rushes by. “The loftiness of man shall be 
bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be 
made low;” but the humble spirit shall stand un¬ 
shaken, and unmoved, amid all the troubled tossings 
of this weary world. 
FUCHSIA FULGENS. 
Without the least intention to invade the province 
ot Mr. Beaton, I yet deem it necessary to call the 
attention of your readers to a very useful but much 
neglected plant for ornamenting the flower-garden, 
the I uclisiaFulgens, which I seldom see grown to the 
extent I think it deserves ; and judging its manage¬ 
ment may not be sufficiently known to be the cause 
of its almost entire absence in some rather extensive 
collections of bedding-out plants, I herewith trouble 
you with the following particulars:— 
It is well known this fuchsia differs from all the 
others both in appearance and habit, being more 
truly deciduous than the hybrid varieties so much in 
vogue, and also possessing a thick fleshy tuberous 
root, which in a matured plant is capable of storing 
away sufficient food on which to live during the winter, 
as also to develope the plant of the ensiung spring. 
Now, it is well-known that cuttings taken off in the 
latter part of summer are incapable of forming such 
substantial roots, consequently in most cases they 
perish; hence, I presume that many cultivators may 
have discarded it as not being an easy propagating 
plant, more especially as, also, cuttings struck in spring 
do not succeed well planted out that season; with 
these disadvantages against it, no wonder but some 
might dismiss it. But there is yet another way in 
which plants may be had in great abundance, and 
without much trouble, I mean by seeds ; no fuchsia 
seeds more plentifully, and the pulpy pods or seeds 
gathered when ripe, which is known by their falling, 
and put away in a saucer, or anything where they 
do not lie too thick, require only to be kept so until 
March, when they may be rubbed in pieces, as well 
as they can be separated, and sown in pots or pans 
in March. I would not advise the seed to be dis¬ 
turbed before then : and even then let the pulpy ma 
terial still adhere to it, only separate it so as too 
many seeds may not be left at one place. If the pots 
or pans be placed in a hotbed, the young plants will 
come up in about three weeks; and, if the seed has 
been good, in great abundance. A 6-inch pot will con¬ 
tain as many seedlings as the amateur will probably 
want. After they have got their rough leaves, they 
may be pricked out into pans. I generally use a mix¬ 
ture of loam and leaf mould with a little sand, in 
which they grow quickly. And when they have pretty 
nearly filled the pan with roots, they may be potted 
singly into three-inch pots, and put anywhere under 
glass; or if such accommodation cannot be had, they 
do very well out-doors in June, and the whole of the 
summer months. You must then shift them into 48’s 
pots, which will be all that I should advise for those 
intended for bedding-out plants the following year; a 
few may be put in larger pots, and some will, doubtless, 
flower in the autumn, but the bulk I advise keeping 
in pots not too large; they occupy less room in winter, 
and their roots get well ripened by being cramped, 
and the plant ceasing growing early in the summer. 
The plants are not at all delicate, on the contrary, I 
know of nothing more easy to rear, and am not sure but 
plants might be raised in pans out of doors, and good 
plants obtained by the autumn; but when a hotbed 
can be had it is bettor to urge the seedlings forward 
a little way first. In the summor they can be placed 
anywhere, so that they can get their due share of 
water; and if in the full sun so much the better, as 
they will ripen their growth earlier; which if they 
do not do before the autumn rains set in it is better to 
lay them on their side; and about the time that other 
greenhouse plants are taken in, it will be found that 
they have lost nearly all their leaves, and made a 
good bushy plant a foot or eighteen inches high, and 
the wood all ripened, excejff the tips, which, however, 
had better remain on until spring. In wintering 
them, I usually set mine under the stage of the green¬ 
house ; but they are very accommodating—any place 
safe from frost will do very well for them until spring, 
when if they could be excited a little in warmth be- 
