—EE—xx 
“spots for years. 
-circumstances the old plants become 
‘tion. 
December 1, 1909 
Jarge pots, or in open beds in favoured 
As a rule under such 
gaunt and straggley, but by judicious 
pruning, and afterwards stopping, in the 
-autumn the old plants will hold their own 
against others with a fair show of blooms 
‘indeed very fine flowers are thrown. 
The pyramid shape is the correct form to 
be worked for, and to gain this the tops 
should be nipped off to force out the lower 
‘branches. One of the upper shoots should 
be removed as soon as the lower ones 
‘have pushed a few inches, and the other 
tied to a stick, to be again stopped when 
it has advanced about a foot. 
The Fuchsia is another plant which has 
‘been neglected in the matter of not being 
grown nearly so largely as it deserves to 
be, ' 
We have no hesitation in recommending 
‘the single varieties for outdoor cultiva- 
tion, because they are hardier and freer 
flowering than the double, and in nearly 
“every instance they make the better plant 
of the two, Asamatter of fact, it is 
requisite that the double varieties should 
‘solely be cultivated in nicely sheltered 
‘situations. 
From the single varieties we can com- 
Mend Mrs. Marshall. Its tube and sepals 
of the flower are white, the corolla is 
‘Pink, and without a doubt is one of the 
Very finest varieties for outdoor cultiva- 
Another very fine variety is the 
Rose of Castille, which has white sepals, 
With violet corolla, White Jubilee is a 
Variety possessing an enormously large 
flower, with rich red sepals and reflexed 
Corolla, It is altogether a grand flower 
but not such a free flowerer as either of 
‘the other two varieties before mentioned. 
‘The Earl Beaconfield is a wonderfully 
beautiful and thoroughly distinct fuchsia 
having rosy carmine tube and sepals ‘with 
*& deep carmine corolla. Mrs Rundle 1s 
‘another very fine fuchsia, after the style 
ofthe Earl Beaconfield. It has flesh 
‘Coloured sepals and an orange-scarlet 
‘Corolla. A variegated variety of the 
fuchsia that really ought to be grown in 
the flower garden, not wholly for its 
flowers, but for its foliage, is Gracillis 
Vatiegata. The flower of this fuchsia is 
‘mall when compared with some of the 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
other varieties,’ but it has beautifully 
variegated leaves, the variegation being 
white, and round the edge of the leaf. 
Of the double varieties we would recom- 
mend Avalanche which has crimson tube 
‘sepals with a purple corolla. It is pos- 
sessod of a very distinct foliage of a pale- 
ish green colour. Frau Emma Tophia 
is very pretty and distinct variety, having 
tube and sepals of a rosy coral colour 
_with a clear rosy blush corolla, the flower 
is large and extremely free flower- 
ing for a double. Madame Jules Christian 
is one cf our best double white fuchsias. 
The sepals are short, reflexed, and of a 
nice crimson colour, whilst the corolla is 
a pure snow-white. Miss Lucy Vidler 
has rich crimson sepals, with a bright 
violet mauve corola, Molesworth js one 
of our largest double flowering fuchsias, 
having nicely reflexed sepals of a bright 
carmine colour, with a pure white corolla. 
Phenomenal (illustrated) is.a well-known 
variety, laving a short tube reflexed 
crimsoh sepals, the corolla is azure violet 
flaked with red. 
Hydrangeas : How to Grow Them 
In Spring and early Summer there is 
nothing more striking than large 
numbers of Hydrangeas in small pots, 
say about 6 or 7 inches in diameter. The 
plants, grown to a single stem, 6 or 8 
inches high, are furnished with threo or 
four pairs of healthy leaves, surmounted 
by a globular head 12 or 15 inches 
through. generally of the freshest and 
clearest bright-pink color, although a few 
are met with possessing the blue shade 
thet is 80 much prized by some, and for 
producing which there are several 
different recipes, in the shape of soil. 
more or less impregnated with iron 
‘filings, charcoal, or alum, or pure peat, 
Larger specimens may also be grown, 
bearing several heads of flower each, but 
for general decorative purposes the small 
plants with single heads are much the 
most to be preferred. In addition to the 
pleasing color, general attractive charac- 
ter, and long endurance of the flowers, 
the plants possess the advantage that 
during the time they are in bloom they 
18 
can be stood in places where there is 
comparatively little light, even under the 
shade of other plants, in positions that 
few, if any, other flowering subjects 
would bear without being so injured as 
to be useless afterwards. 
— The Larger Variety. — 
There is a larger variety of the common 
form, with the individual flowers of 
which the head is composed, as well as 
the head itself, much bigger than the 
older more generally known kind. This 
is the best to grow, differing in no way as 
to the treatment it requires in propaga- 
tion, soil, and time of flowering. 
— Cuttings. — 
Cuttings will strike at any time of the 
year that they can be obtained in a half 
or three-parts ripened state, but to 
ensure the large heads on small plants 
such as above described, the best plan is 
to have a few plants grown out in the 
open, where they keep strong and short- 
jointed. These, according to the character 
of each season, will generally get 
sufficiently matured to be taken off in 
February, at which time the buds will be 
formed in the points, in which state they 
should be taken off at about the third 
joint below the bud and inserted either 
singly in small pots or several round the 
side of a 6-inch one, Place a few bits of 
crocks in the bottom of each, on these a 
little fibrous material, and dry or flaky 
rotten dung. They are in no way 
particular as to soil; but if it is preferred 
to have some of a blue shade and others 
the normal color, a portion may be struck 
and grown in sandy peat, and the others 
in loam, in both cases using it for the 
cuttings in something like a proportion 
of one-fourth sand to the loam or peat; 
The cuttings should be severed at a joint, 
and inserted firmly in the soil, the 
leaves, except those at the base, which 
must necessarily be removed, being 
retained, A slight hot-bed should be 
prepared, on which place an ordinary 
frame with glazed lights—this process is 
not, of course, absolutely necessary—in 
this plunge the pots, keeping them well 
moistened and shaded from the sun, but 
with the lights tilted day and night, so 
as to keep the tops cool. They will soon 
