)--'Well a-day! but this is a power of money,
sure and sure.'--''Tis yours, and the plant is mine; and, my good dame,
you shall have one of the first young ones I rear, to keep for your
husband's sake,'--'Alack, alack!'--'You shall.' A coach was called, in
which was safely deposited our florist and his seemingly dear purchase.
His first work was to pull off and utterly destroy every vestige of
blossom and bud. The plant was divided into cuttings, which were forced
in bark beds and hotbeds; were redivided and subdivided. Every effort
was used to multiply it. By the commencement of the next flowering
season, Mr. Lee was the delighted possessor of 300 Fuchsia plants, all
giving promise of blossom. The two which opened first were removed into
his show-house. A lady came:--'Why, Mr. Lee, my dear Mr. Lee, where did
you get this charming flower?'--'Hem! 'tis a new thing, my lady; pretty,
is it not?'--'Pretty! 'tis lovely. Its price?'--'A guinea: thank your
ladyship;' and one of the plants stood proudly in her ladyship's
boudoir. 'My dear Charlotte, where did you get?' &c.--'Oh! 'tis a new
thing; I saw it at old Lee's; pretty, is it not?'--'Pretty! 'tis
beautiful! Its price!'--'A guinea; there was another left.' The
visitor's horses smoked off to the suburb; a third flowering plant stood
on the spot whence the first had been taken. The second guinea was paid,
and the second chosen Fuchsia adorned the drawing-room of her second
ladyship The scene was repeated, as new-comers saw and were attracted by
the beauty of the plant.
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