108 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



room are worth their weiglit iu gold, and distill an almost matchless 

 odour. 



I find I liave got into shrubs, and forgot our old friend the winter 

 heliotrope (a just name) ; but it is such a large subject this, that I 

 fear I have forgotten a great many more good tilings than I have 

 named. Above all other wild hardy plants this (Tussilago fragrans) 

 is the most accommodating. It should never be admitted into the 

 garden proper, else it may become a contumacious weed ; but if 

 there happen to be a stony heap among shrubs in any backward place, 

 or the bank of a ditch, an old lane, or any other position where you 

 can lay hands on it when in flower, plant it, and it will increase 

 abundantly, and aftbrd a lot of very gratefully -seen ted modest-look- 

 ing blooms when there is hardly anything to be had, indoors or out, 

 with any perfume. A handful or two gathered aiad placed in a vase, 

 as a sort of groundwork for gayer but scentless flowers, will furnish 

 a grateful odour in the midst of winter. 



It used to be the fashion to plant beds of heliotrope in the sum- 

 mer garden, but the practice is almost gone out. I cannot conclude 

 this short paper better than by recommending that a small bed or 

 some patches of heliotrope should be put out in every garden about 

 the 1st of June, as it does so finely in the open air, and has a power- 

 ful eff'ect in creating an agreeable fragrance in the bedding garden. 

 If its use would interfere with any design in colours, it would not, 

 generally speaking, be difiicult to find a place from whence its odour 

 might circulate without the plant being seen. For my own part, I 

 think it as well worth seeing as any plant used for bedding; but 

 knowing that the taste of bedders has run so much in favour of 

 decided colours of late, I speak thus timidly of an old favourite. 



The violet should have been omitted from this paper in common 

 with the clove carnation, and many another old friend, were it not 

 that I have just had a vivid remembrance of the beautiful spread of 

 violets that I was fortunate enough to see at Bicton, the seat of 

 Lady Eolle, last autumn. They were then in great beauty, and have 

 continued so since. On fine days in spring, when all the little 

 flowers are induced to come out and sun themselves in a mass, the 

 eifect of these Bictou violet beds is, perhaps, unrivalled. Judging 

 from oar garden literature and conversation, one would think the 

 successful culture of the violet was as much a matter of fact and 

 congratulation as that of the geranium ; but whatever others may 

 think about it, I confess to never having seen the sweet violet done 

 to perfection till I visited Bicton. Mr. Barnes is at once the largest 

 and most successful private grower of it I have ever met. But he 

 takes particular care to meet its wants with a good deal of labour ; 

 not so much, however, as to deter cultivators on a small scale from 

 following his example with advantage. This plan is very simple. 

 Seed of the Russian violet is sown on a nicely-prepared bed in 

 February ; the young plants are grown on through the summer on a 

 border with a north aspect, and kept freely growing. In October the 

 plants are taken up with good roots, and planted in various shel- 

 tered positions in the flower and kitchen garden ; but the most par- 

 ticular crop is put out in front of the camellia-house, forming one 



