February 27. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
413 
if almost left to itself, being superior, in this respect, to 
Banks’s Glory —though others, such as Diadem, Ne 
Plus Ultra, Blade Prince, Collegian, and Nonsuch, also 
spindle out and become twiggy quite naturally. Such 
large kinds, as Compte de Beaulieu, Ajax, Matildiana, 
Diadem of Flora, &c., require more frequent stopping, if 
tho plant is designed to be at all symmetrical; and with 
tho command of such hothouse treatment, the last 
stopping should be given before the end of April for 
plants intended to bloom in June; and before the end 
of May the plant should be inured to a more airy and 
bright atmosphere. 
8. Where, in addition to the temperature of such a 
house, there is also the means of plunging the plants in a 
sweet, mild bottom-heat. —Even old, large plants, as first 
referred to, will relish this exceedingly, provided it does 
not rise above 70° at first, and never reaches 80°. I 
have seen large plants greatly benefited at starting in a 
warmish greenhouse, by being plunged in clean, fresh 
sawdust, about fifteen inches deep. Sawdust produces 
a nice, gentle bottom-heat for a long time. There is 
one thing I. would caution any friend about who might 
use it—always place the pot of a valuable plant upon 
a piece of wood, or tile, &c., if you plunge it in sawdust. 
The reason is, that if you do not do so, the frequent 
waterings aud dryings of the plant will draw the saw¬ 
dust so firmly into the hole at the bottom of the pot, as 
almost to make the pot water-logged, and thus make a 
marsh plant of one that liked no such treatment. A sweet 
tan-bed, or one of dung and leaves, will even be better 
than the sawdust; and could you commence with such 
large plants as I first named, in March, you could easily 
have magnificent specimens by the first days of June, 
after growing them a fortnight of gradual hardening. 
The gases that escape from such sweet-decomposing 
material will give such vigour and luxuriance to the 
foliage as could not be obtained at that early season in 
a greenhouse alone. With younger plants, such as I 
referred to in the second supposition, and where growth 
and form must he the first considerations, a bottom- 
heat of 70° to 80°, and a top-heat of from 55° to 00®, 
with a rise of 10° from sunshine, would give you luxu¬ 
riant growth, which would require you to keep potting 
aud pinching the over-strong shoots until the beginning 
of May. In hardening-off such plants, it will be 
necessary to raise the pots, bit by bit, out of the bed, 
and allow them to stand on the surface a few days before 
removing the plants to a more open and cool position 
in the greenhouse 
Some of our best florists strongly disapjirove of over 
giving more than greenhouse treatment to a Fuchsia; 
but if the changes are made gradually, I never found 
that a Fuchsia, during the first stages of growth, suf¬ 
fered by receiving only a little lower temperature than 
would he necessary for a Cucumber. From small 
plants received in the autumn, or oven in January and 
February, I have had nice flowering plants in June and 
July (not Regent’s Park ones), by giving them this 
hotbed treatment. They were shifted in February, 
aud plunged in a heat of from 75°; in a short time 
they grew so fast as to want another shift; and then 
another; and then considerable attention in training. 
These, though not so large, look very neat, as the growth 
is all fresh, and when gradually hardened off, no one 
would know, uuless you told them, that ever you gave 
them hotbed treatment. 
As a succession to either of these that I have named, 
cuttings inserted in a hotbed, in February or March, 
and kept in a mild hotbed for a few weeks after potting- 
off, will furnish nice, little, flowering plants from August 
and onwards. 
One case more I will allude to. You have a nice, old 
plant in the autumn, but no room to keep it; and yet 
you wish to have a strong plant, healthy aud luxuriant, 
by the end of summer. When the leaves have fallen, 
cut tho plant down to near the surface of the soil. In 
spring you will be presented with a number of shoots 
there, and you may please yourself with having only one, 
or with leaving five or so ; one for the centre, and four 
round it. By keeping such a plant in the greenhouse, 
you will havo a fine conical mass in August. If, after 
potting, you could put it into heat in the end of Febru¬ 
ary, and attend to the training, you may have a mag¬ 
nificent specimen, and all fresh grown wood, from the 
middle to the end of June. If you leave five shoots, or 
so, care must be taken that the outside ones aro not 
allowed to rival the centre, so as to destroy the sym¬ 
metry. From such cut-down plants, I have had shoots 
from four to six feet long, and well furnished with side- 
shoots, so as to present a somewhat regular rounded 
cone appearance; but if from these, and small plants, 
you wish large plants in bloom at an early period, there 
is no alternative; you must give them a hitch with 
bottom-heat to set them fairly on their legs. 
I have used almost every kind of soil. Rough, fibry 
loam, with dried pieces of old cow-dung, and dried 
pieces of decayed leaf-mould, with a little charcoal 
and road-drift, will grow them admirably, giving fine 
foliage, compact habit, and large flowers. But though, 
perhaps, it may be only fanciful, still I have thought 
that tho flowers were always better coloured if from a 
third to a half of the compost consisted of heath soil. 
VARIETIES. 
The best kinds of Fuchsias have frequently been 
given. The following are a few not very old :— 
Collegian —crimson tube aud sepals; corolla purple. 
Ajax —a very large, reddish flower. 
Princess —a good, white-sepalled kind. 
Pearl of England —similar to Princess. 
Duchess of Lancaster —one of the best, with white 
sepals and tube. 
England's Glory —a splendid one, with white sepals ; 
can hardly say which of these is best. 
Glory — an excellent dark flower; larger and less 
twiggy than Voltigeur, but both handsome. 
Dr. Lindley^one of the best darks. 
Dicomparable —something like Purity, but whiter aud 
reflexing more. 
Hendersonii —a double flower of the clearest purple. 
Sir John Falstaff, and Globosa perfecta, both in the 
way of Globosa , but very large. 
The following are newer varieties 
Telegraph —wax-like, red and violet. 
Trentham — scarlet sepals; fine, purplish corolla; 
large; a little resembling the Globosa varieties; sepals 
half reflexed, aud very spriggish in their appearance, 
reminding one of Punch’s delineations of a great states¬ 
man, who stands before us generally with a sprig in his 
mouth. 
Duke of Wellington —scarcely equal to the last; 
sepals light scarlet; corolla rosy-purple. 
Queen of Hanover —whitish, rellexed sepals, and 
pinkish corolla ; stiff habit. 
Clio —reflexed-blush sepals, and pinkish corolla; neat 
and compact. 
Grandissima —long tube ; white; and sepals white; 
corolla deep claret. 
The following could not be procured before this 
season, and will, no doubt, be greatly in demand, from 
the advertisements of Messrs. Henderson. 
Queen Victoria — bright scarlet - crimson, rellexed 
sepals; corolla pure white. 
Mrs. Story■ —sepals long, reflexed, crimson; corolla 
clear white. 
Galanthijiora pleno —sepals crimson; corolla some¬ 
thing like a double Snowdrop. 
Although there seems to be a little haze over the 
