278 glenny's handbook 



VICIA. Vetch. [Leginninosae, § P;ipilioiiaceaB.] Hardy 

 aiimials or perennials. Common soil. Seeds or division. 



VIEUSSEUXIA. riridaceae.] Beautiful bulbous plants, 

 requiring the treatment of Ixia. Peat and loam. Offsets. 



VILLAPiSIA. [Gentianaceae.] Aquatic perennials, hardy 

 or half hardy. Piich loam ; shallow water ; protection in 

 winter for the exotics. Increased by division. 



VIXCA. Periwinkle. [Apocynacese.] Pretty hardy 

 shrubby plants, always dwarf and evergreen, all of trailing 

 habit, and well adapted for covering the surface of the ground 

 in shady situations where little else will live. They are 

 increased at yjleasure by separating the rooted trailing shoots. 

 Common soil. The best are V. herhacea., V. major, and 

 T'. minor. There is a variety with variegated leaves. 



VIOLA. Violet. [Violacese.] A large genus of pretty 

 herbaceous plants, almost all of which ai'e hardy. The first 

 to be mentioned is the Sweet Violet, V. odorata, of which the 

 common wild forms shonld be planted in abundance in every 

 shrubbery, for the sake of the supply of their odoriferous 

 blossoms. For general cultivation the varieties known as 

 the Neapolitan, the Piussian, and the Tree Violet are the best. 

 The Russian is quite hardy, and requires only to be planted 

 in rich soil, which must be renewed, in part at least, annually. 

 The others need higher culture. To grow the Neapolitan 

 sort a bed of rich light soil must be made up, and about the 

 beginning of May the old plants must be divided into two. 

 three, or more, according to their size. These young plants 

 are put out, and carefully watered, when necessary, through 

 the summer, and are either allowed to bloom in these beds, 

 some protection being afforded them to keep off heavy rains 

 and frost, or they are taken up about the end of September, 

 jiotted, and the pots kept in a cold dry frame during wintei', 

 with such other protection as the season renders necessary. 

 They may be forced in frames by the application of gentle 

 heat, and by this means it is no unusual thing with tbe 

 luxurious to have Violets all the winter. The " Tree Violet " 

 is a double-flowered dark variety, which, if kept trained to 

 a single stem, acquires the appearance of a miniature tree. 

 This requires to be grown as a hardy plant in frames, the 

 soil being turfy loam, decomposed cowduug, and leaf-mould 



