THE FLORIST AND TOMOLOGIST. 
[ April, 
56 
leaf-branclies. This result is produced by 
moistening the stem throughout its length, and 
for several consecutive days, even though the 
scapes have developed sufficiently to admit of 
no doubt as to their floriferous constitution ; 
while the scapes of the unmoistened branches, 
not changing their nature, are at once arrested 
in their growth, and remain in the latent state, 
undergoing their metamorphosis until the end 
of July, when the plant, in all its activity, 
normally produces its branches of bifur¬ 
cation.” 
If, then, the little surgical operation above 
indicated is performed at the moment when the 
scapes begin to split the sheaths which cover 
them, the eyes thus treated will shoot forth 
and produce flowers ; while if it be executed in 
Juljq it will cause a growth of auxiliary stems. 
The success of the operation is not long in 
making itself known ; a few days after it is 
performed, the little split opens, and the eye 
is perceived at the bottom of the wound.— 
Comte F. Du Buysson, in Flore clen Serves , 
xxiii. 88. 
THE FUCHSIA. 
Fuchsia, from its elegant free 
it and profusion of bloom, has be- 
ie one of the most popular green¬ 
house flowers of the day ; and in regard to the 
extent of its popularity, may be said almost to 
rank next to the Bose. During the last twenty 
years, it has been very much improved by the 
florist, who, by patient fertilisation and care¬ 
ful seeding, has produced flowers of enormous 
size, great substance and beauty, and of many 
hues of colour. The improvement of the 
double varieties has kept pace with that of the 
single ones, and though the single flowers are 
the most elegant in appearance and shape, the 
double-flowering forms are much sought after, 
because of their great size and striking character. 
Propagation is effected by seeds and cuttings, 
the latter method being the one generally 
adopted, as seeding is only resorted to in order 
to obtain new varieties. Cuttings can betaken 
at almost any season of the year, as they 
strike with great readiness, and simply require 
to be placed in shallow pans in a light and 
very sandy soil, in a brisk heat, and in a few 
days the young cuttings will be freely rooted, 
when they can be potted off singly into small 
CO-pots, and grown on as required. 
In attempting to raise the Fuchsia from seed, 
it should always be taken from carefully im¬ 
pregnated flowers, or the result will not repay 
the labour and care expended in the process. 
It is only carefully impregnated flowers that 
will produce finely developed seedlings. The 
seed should be sown in pans about the month 
of January, in any light soil, covering them 
about a quarter of an inch with finely sifted 
leaf-mould, or rotted turf, mixed with silver- 
sand, gently drawing the syringe over them, 
after plunging the pans in a bed in a propagat¬ 
ing house heated on the tank system. Those 
who have not the advantage of a propagating 
house should delay the sowing a few weeks, 
and plunge the pans in a dung-heated frame ; 
but great care is requisite in forming the dung- 
beds, for if the seeds are sown before the bed 
is properly ready for them, the seeds will come 
up quickly, and the plants damp off quite as 
fast. For three weeks or a month, under the 
most favourable circumstances, all that the 
grower can do will be to keep the surface of 
the seed-pan just moist, and not wet. When 
the plants have made another pair of leaves 
above the seed-leaves, prick off the strongest 
into 60-sized pots. This is considered to be the 
time when seedling Fuchsias least feel any check 
from removal. The pots should be plunged 
to keep the roots moist, and it dispenses with 
the necessity for using much water overhead, 
from the excess of which the plants frequently 
damp off at the surface of the pots. Heat, 
moisture, and shade are all essential at this 
stage of growth, and on no account should 
the plants receive a check, for their early 
flowering entirely depends upon the treat¬ 
ment received at this early stage. As the 
plants grow, they should be shifted as re¬ 
quired, tied neatly to stakes, and flowered in 
48 or 36-pots, selecting only those for propa¬ 
gation that show evidence of novelty and 
undoubted quality.. 
Those cultivators of the Fuchsia who like 
to possess finely-grown symmetrical plants in¬ 
variably select cuttings struck in August or 
September. These can either have been kept 
through the winter in store-pits, or potted off 
in October singly into 60-pots, and kept 
moving through the winter. Any flowering 
buds should be picked off from the plants 
as they show themselves, and the plants 
must be kept in the warm part of a green- 
