THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
412 
and evqry one of the breed, your humble servant among 
the rest, has the old Adam in him, more or less, to this 
very day ; and 1 know it from experience, and often to my 
cost, that any one who usurps the authority of a gar¬ 
dener, young or old, will come off only second best in 
the matter of soedlings, cuttings, and waterings; so 
that if the two good kitchen - gardeners failed in the 
dowers, the master and his boy will fare worse, and 
they cannot help themselves; but if they should suc¬ 
ceed, I should like to record the fact. I). Beaton. 
FUCHSIAS FOR EXHIBITION. 
“ How should Fuchsias be grown so as to appear as 
they did at the Show at the Regent’s Park in June, last 
year?” 
Want of space, and numberless inquiries, prevented 
me answering this question two or three, weeks ago. 
These were chiefly grown in the pyramidal style, and 
were from four to six feet in height, and from three to four 
feet across. At that period, I had a number of plants in 
bloom of a similar size, and which were brought to that 
condition by two or three different modes of treatment; 
either of which will secure the desired result, according 
to the age and the size of the plant you have to work 
upon, and the conveniences at your disposal. Some of 
our friends blame their gardener, because he cannot 
produce such giant specimens as soon as June or July 
from some little mites of plants received in the autumn, 
or early in the spring, though he may have nothing 
more to assist him than a greenhouse, and, perhaps, a 
cucumber-box. Now, with such advantages, he may 
produce fine specimens of plants later in the season, 
even from very small, young plants, but from such 
plants he cannot produce such large specimens so early; 
and it is not fair to expect it. I will, therefore, pre¬ 
suppose three circumstances, and then the treatment 
necessary in each case. 
1. Where there is only a Greenhouse. —To obtain from 
this fine flowering plants, in June, you must have plants 
trained and grown to nearly that size the previous 
autumn. A full exposure to an autumn sun will do much 
to mature the wood before bousing them, underneath or 
above the stage, or in a warm shed, free from frost. The 
soft points of the shoots should be nipped off, to concen¬ 
trate the juices and prevent damping. By the middle 
of February the beds will be breaking, and the plants 
should be looked over, and receive wliat little more 
training and pruning is necessary to give them the 
desired shape. When the buds are half-an-inch in 
length, or so, the plants should be repotted in larger or 
similar sized pots, kept a little shaded for a few days, 
and then fully exposed to the light; syringing the head 
frequently, to prevent too rapid perspiration, and giving 
water at the roots as they require it. Place them at this 
period at the warmest end of the greenhouse, and keep 
the atmosphere rather moist and close, by frequently 
dusting the plants over head with water, and keeping 
the stage sprinkled. A few shoots may threaten to be 
robbers, by coming extra strong, and these should be 
nipped to make two or three instead of one. It will 
have been perceived that by this mode little pruning, 
comparatively, is given to the plant before starting into 
growth, as it is intended that every bud left should be 
flower-producing. When the shoots are from three to 
six inches long they will bogin to show flower-buds 
profusely. Before that, as soon as the fresh roots begin 
to kiss the sides of the pot, weak manure-waterings 
should bo given now and then. But as soon as the 
flower-buds appoar, a casing on the surface of old cow, 
sheep, or deer-dung, just surfaced with a little sandy 
soil to hide it, will give size to the flowers. A slight 
surfacing of superphosphate of lime will also be useful 
February 27. 
for that purpose ; half a tea-spoonful will be enough at 
a time for a 12-inch pot. As soon as the first flowers 
approach maturity the plants must have more air and full 
exposure to light. Where there arc room and conveni¬ 
ences to keep large, symmetrical plants over the winter, 
this is the easiest of all modes for getting large plants, 
at an early period, smothered with bloom. In fact, the 
blooming takes quite the conceit out of the mere growing. 
The only fault attending it is, that the lovers of extra- 
fine foliage will be disappointed. Not only the foliage, 
but the flowers also, would bo smaller than on younger 
plants, unless the top-dressing and manure-waterings 
were attended to. With such attention, I have had 
good flowers, healthy, but not extra-luxuriant foliage, 
and handsome specimens, from June to August, when 
younger plants took their place. Want of space, in 
winter, forced mo to have the extra trouble of growing 
on younger plants. I resolved to try the old successful 
plan again this season ; but unfortunately, before being 
housed, my older plants received too friendly a visit from 
Mr. Frost, and their stems just received enough of injury 
to prevent a healthy flow of fluids passing through them. 
For a splendid early bloom, on large specimens, no plan 
can answer better that involves less trouble and con¬ 
veniences, and never having received much coddling 
in the way of extra heat, the plants look robust and 
healthy, and there is little need to harden off to fit them 
to any position. 
2. Where, in addition to a Greenhouse, there is another 
house, Peachery, Vinery, dc., where, during the end of 
February and March, a temperature of from 50° to C0° 
may he secured. — In such circumstances, such large 
plants, treated as above, will break stronger, and grow 
more luxuriantly; and by hardening off gradually, will 
bloom freely in the greenhouse by the beginning of 
June. With such means, and especially in a Vinery, 
with an average temperature at night of 00°, and a little 
shade from the Vines, nice stubby plants, from two to 
three feet in height, and some fifteen inches or a foot 
across their base, may be grown into the size of the Re¬ 
gent’s Park plants by the middle or end of May, and then 
a gradual exposure to more air and light, and a drier 
atmosphere, will present a mass of bloom by the middle of 
June. Considerably more care will be required for these 
younger plants than older ones. Any extra strong shoot 
must be stopped, so as to have them as uniform as 
possible in size. A strong shoot must be selected for 
the leader, and if that does not throw out side-shoots 
enough, and in the right place, it must be stopped by 
pinching out the point to make it do so. If even that 
does not do, a bend must be made over tbe place you 
wish the shoot to come from, in order that the strain, 
by bringing more sap to the part, may cause the bud 
there to start strongly, when the shoot should be 
elevated again, and another leader selected, and that 
may require to be stopped again. Wliat is thus 
done with the main leading shoot must also be done 
with any side-slioot that threatens to monopolise undue 
strength to itself, or to have the place rather baro of 
twigs. Without this care, many side-shoots near the 
base would compete with the leader, and thus destroy the 
artistic pyramidal shape of the plant,if that shape of train¬ 
ing is resorted to. With such a convenience, plants will 
attain a large size, and be more luxuriant by the middle 
of Juno than the older plants, with greenhouse treat¬ 
ment merely, could be expected to present; and though 
the flowers will scarcely bo so numerous, they will, in 
general, be finer and larger. I had some plants of 
Volligeur, &c., some two feet in height, in February, 
that were six feet by three-and-a-lialf feet in June, and 
covered with bloom. That variety, which, after all new 
kinds, is a great favourite with mo, is peculiarly suitable 
for such treatment, on either of the modes 1 have re¬ 
ferred to, as it becomes well-shaped and twiggy all over, 
