520 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 16, 1898. 
Hints for ||mateurs. 
BEDDING PLANTS. 
Fuchsias.—When well grown in pots under glass 
Fuchsias are among the most handsome and flori- 
ferous plants we have, and as such are deservedly 
great favourites with both amateur and professional 
gardeners—indeed, with any one who knows a good 
plant when he sees it and knows how to appreciate 
it. The Fuchsia is a subject of many parts, however, 
and is not content with simply shining as a pot plant. 
Planted out like other bedders in the open garden, and 
consigned to the tender mercies and chances of the 
weather it acquits itself as few other plants do : in¬ 
deed, the specimens in pots are not infrequently put to 
the blush, both for size and brilliancy of flowers and 
continuity of flowering by the plants growing in the 
open air. Small wonder is it then that Fuchsias 
find a place in our flower gardens in increasing num¬ 
bers year by year. The example set by those in 
charge of our public parks in London, and other 
towns and cities has been followed in this case as in 
others, and no one can deny that the flower garden 
has been much the gainer thereby. Much of its 
old time stiffness and monotony have disappeared, 
let us hope never to return. 
Just now it is a busy time with the Fuchsias. 
Those cultivators who found a necessity for more 
plants have been busily at work for weeks past, tak¬ 
ing off cuttings, rooting them and potting them on. 
The old plants were put in heat about the second 
week in January, and kept well syringed, the young 
growths being taken off when they were about 3 in. 
in length. The earliest cuttings have now developed 
into sturdy ltttle plants in large 60 pots. These 
should be kept growing steadily—a matter 
of no great difficulty when day by day sees the 
lengthening days, and the shortening nights. 
Towards the beginning of May a further shift into 
43-pots may be advisable, which size will last the 
plants until the beginning of June, when they may be 
transferred to the open. 
The tall, sturdy specimens that are so con¬ 
spicuously handsome and imposing are not, however, 
to be obtained in this way. The old plants have to 
be called upon for this, and with anything like 
ordinary care and attention they will respond 
readily. These old plants were at the beginning of 
the winter lifted, potted up loosely into rather dry 
soil, and placed beneath the bench to hibernate. 
Through the long winter months no water has been 
given them, but this treatment, although well enough 
for winter and early spring, must not be continued 
longer or the plants will suffer. Even now the buds 
have broken, and the first delicate leaves are show¬ 
ing themselves from a multiplicity of shoots. The 
plants are somewhat straggling in habit, where they 
were not pruned last summer. The first thing to do, 
therefore, is to prune them. This is a matter of 
great simplicity, although the pruning given in each 
case must be ultimately decided by the shape it is 
desired the plants should assume. Close pyramida 
plants, or others with shorter and denser heads must 
have the shoots cut back rather harder. The loose 
pyramidal form is, however, the one that seems most 
natural to the Fuchsia, and the one in which, accord¬ 
ing to our opinion, it displays itself to the greatest 
advantage. In such cases the shoots should be 
shortened to about half their present length. 
Bring the plants well up to the light by standing 
them on the stage in the greenhouse, and, if 
necessary, temporarily raising it (the stage) so as to 
lift the plants up quite close to the glass. A tem¬ 
perature not less than 50° Fahr. by night, rising on 
sunny days to 60 9 will suit them well, and the 
syringe should be kept to work regularly night and 
morning. After the plants have recovered them¬ 
selves from the pruning they should be shaken out 
of their pots and repotted. This time rich light soil 
should be given them. A compost of three-fifths of 
good loam, one fifth old Mushroom bed manure, or 
dried cow manure rubbed through a sieve, and one 
fifth of leaf soil, with a sprinkling of silver sand or 
road scrapings will make a capital compost, and in 
this the plants will grow like weeds. Pinching the 
points of over-gross shoots must be attended to as 
required, and the result will be dense bushy habited 
plants, that will render a good account of them¬ 
selves presently in the flower beds. Anybody can 
grow good Fuchsias if they will only try, and surely 
the reward is worth the little trouble. 
Celosias. —Those who are on the look out for 
rather uncommon effects in the flower garden cannot 
do better than work up a stock of the handsome, 
richly coloured Celosia pyramidalis plumosa. The 
plant is frequently met with in the summer months 
as an occupant of greenhouses and conservatories, 
and its golden or crimson plumes are always the 
subject of much admiration. Its employment in the 
flower garden is, however, comparatively rare, 
despite the fact that it does fairly well under any¬ 
thing like ordinary weather conditions. 
The plants are rather tender, and require a fairly 
high temperature in the early stages, so that all the 
work of growing them on has practically to be done 
under glass. In other words they must be treated as 
exotics until the summer is fully here when they may 
be transferred to the open. 
The early seedlings raised from the seed sown at 
the beginning of February are now in small 60- 
pots. These youDg plants must be carefully watched 
in order that they may be kept growing steadily on 
and that that dread pest, red spider, may be kept off 
them. As soon as the roots of the young plants 
have reached the sides of the pots a shift should be 
given. This time six inch pots may be employed, 
and the potting should be rather firmer thau the 
first one. The soil should be light, but rich. By the 
beginning of June the plumes will have commenced 
to make their appearance, and bedding out may 
follow in the usual way. A warm spot should be 
chosen in a border facing south or south-west, and 
shaded if possible on the north and north-east. 
Given fine weather the display will then be grand. 
Those amateurs who are late in getting their seed 
should lose no time, for seed sown now will produce 
later plants that will still have time to develop their 
charms before the frost comes to spoil all. Such 
seed should be sown in a brisk heat, and germina¬ 
tion will then soon take place. 
Cannas.— Of late years these have become won- 
drously popular both for the decoration of the glass¬ 
houses, and the flower garden. The queenly Canna 
bears its honours well, however, and it is certain 
that it cannot be too highly praised for decorative 
value, since both flowers and foliage are handsome. 
A bed of Cannas is an exceedingly fine sight, and all 
the more worthy of striving to obtain, because the 
foliage has such a distinctly tropical appearance. 
The rootstocks of the old plants that did duty in 
the flower garden last summer were lifted at the 
approach of winter and stored in shallow boxes in 
sand or old soil. About the beginning of February a 
start was made in propagation, the rootstocks being 
divided up to form independent plants. These 
divisions were placed, some in four inch pots, and 
others in shallow boxes. In both cases they have 
grown well and are now sturdy plants. A further 
shift on should be given as soon as it is observed to 
be necessary, and tbis, in the case of the strongest 
plants, is now. 
By judicious treatment plants may be raised from 
seed and flowered in the same year. To do this, 
the seed must be sown early in the year, otherwise 
the plants do not flower until well towards the eud 
of the summer. 
All Cannas, no matter whether the plants have 
been raised from seed, or obtained by divisions of 
the rootstocks should be kept growing under glass 
until the end of May, after which they may be 
hardened off and planted out. Keep the syringe 
busily employed amongst them. 
Iresines. —These old-fashioned plants have by no 
means outlived their beauty or their usefulness. 
Where breaks of permanent colour are wanted in the 
flower garden, there is nothing that can with greater 
safety be trusted to produce them than the Iresines. 
The plants are easy to grow, and will succeed almost 
anywhere, although they prefer a light rich soil. 
Both I. Herbstii and I. Lindenii are grown in great 
quantities, and there is room for both of them, even 
although the garden be small, for they are quite dis¬ 
tinct from each other. Cuttings were inserted last 
autumn, aDd these have passed through the winter 
in their cutting pots. These autumn rooted cuttings 
were introduced to heat at the beginning of February, 
and cuttings taken off them as fast as possible. This 
cutting about has made the whole plants look rather 
scraggy, so it will be advisable to take them in hand. 
Make up a bed of light rich soil in a heated pit, so 
that the surface of the soil is not so far from the 
glass, shake out the old plants, and plant them out 
in the prepared bed. Water them carefully as they 
require it, and syringe occasionally to keep them 
clean. If green-fly makes its appearance, a dusting 
with tobacco powder should be given before the 
fly gets a foothold. Treated thus, these old stocks 
will develop into fine large plants that will come in 
admirably for filling up the centre of the beds, where 
the Iresines are to be employed — Rex. 
Correspondence. 
Questions asked by amateurs on any subject pertaining 
to gardens or gardening will be answered on this page. 
Anyone may give additional or more explanatory answers 
to questions that have already appeared. Those who desire 
their communications to appear on this page should write 
" Amateurs' Page " on the top of their letters. 
Sweet Peas in Pots.— E. A. : You may give the 
plants a top-dressing of rich soil, but do not fill the 
pots too full, as in the confined space the Peas will 
be very thirsty subjects. When the plants are about 
18 in. high you may commence to give liquid 
manure. You should keep the seed pods picked off, 
for if you allow them to remain on you will lessen 
considerably the crop of flowers. 
Cucumbers and Melons.—Please tell me if it is 
possible to grow Cucumbers and Melons in the same 
house. I have a leaD-to house that has two beds in 
it, and I should like, if possible, to grow both 
Cucumbers and Melons in it.— C. C. P. 
With care you may plant both Cucumbers and 
Melons, and succeed, but the Cucumber should be 
kept to one side of the house—that one next to the 
supporting wall—and the Melons on the other—the 
front. In this way the Melons would get as much 
light as they wanted, whilst the Cucumbers would 
get the shade they love. We have also seen excellent 
results obtained by dividing the house transversely 
between the two subjects. You may follow which 
method of division you choose, or the one which 
seems the more suitable to your circumstances. 
Myriophyllum proserpinacoides. — Geo. Willis: 
You are quite right, this pretty little plant with the 
long name is usually treated as a stove subject. For 
adjoining the sides of Lily tanks in glass houses 
(here is nothing finer, and visitors to the Lily house 
at Kew always admire it, but the plant may also be 
grown out of doors in the summer time. In warm 
sheltered places it does exceedingly well, provided it 
is given a swampy or muddy corner to root in, and 
from whence its feathery growths can trail down 
into the water. It is easily propagated by cuttings 
taken from the tips of the shoots. 
Selaginella to name — S.: The plant is a very 
strongly variegated piece of Selaginella Martensii 
variegata. This form varies considerably in its 
variegation, often almost losing it, and thus getting 
back very close to the type from which it originated. 
Rose for a North Wall —Would you let me know 
what sort of Rose would do best on a northern 
wall. I have a white Moss Rose there, and it does 
not do well—perhaps it is the want of sunshine ?— 
N. P. J. 
Your supposition concerning the non-flowering of 
the Moss Rose is probably correct. If the wall in 
question is very bleak or much exposed to cold 
winds, Gloire de Dijon is far and away the best 
variety you can have. This grand Rose will grow 
and bloom even in the bleakest and most wind-swept 
spots, and the flower itself is of good quality. 
Gloire de Dijon would be our first selection. You 
might also try Marie Van Houtte, also a good Tea- 
scented Rose, with pretty white-yellow flowers. 
Amongst Hybrid Perpetuals, either General Jacque¬ 
minot or Climbing Jules Margottin would be likely 
to give you satisfaction. 
Pruning Marechal Niel Rose.—I have a Marechal 
Niel Rose that is growing close to the roof of a cool 
house. The plant is fearfully straggly. Would 
pruning improve it ? and if so, please tell me if I 
may prune it now. C.C.L. 
A hard pruning would be sure to reduce your 
plant to something like symmetry. Wait until it has 
flowered, which will not be long, and then slip the 
knife into it. Cut the growths hard back into the 
old wood,and remove any branches that are especially 
