VIOLETTAS 71 



delightful fragrance. Being true Alpines in habit and 

 character, they are ideal plants for this purpose. At the 

 time the Violettas are coming into flower, the rock 

 garden, as a rule, is beginning to look less interesting, 

 and as the season advances this fact becomes more 

 apparent. How delightful it would be, therefore, in 

 order to avoid the unkempt look of the rock garden at 

 this period, if Violettas were planted in suitable positions, 

 and thus materially add to its charms and brightness. 

 The ordinary Tufted Pansies or Violas would in most 

 instances be too coarse in growth to produce such a good 

 effect, but the miniature-flowered varieties are specially 

 adapted for use in this way, owing to their distinctly neat 

 and tufted appearance. Alpines as they are, and deep 

 rooting subjects withal, their roots will find their way 

 deep in the cooler soil beneath, in this way enabling the 

 plant to withstand, without dire effects, the full effects 

 of the sun's rays. 



Dead and damaged blooms should be picked off as 

 often as opportunity occurs, in order to keep the plants 

 in good health as long as possible. 



Then again, Violettas may be used for planting in 

 walls, between flagstones, along edges of walks, and a 

 hundred and one other ways, and will amply repay the 

 grower with their daintiness. Their fragrance alone, 

 quite distinct from that possessed by any variety of 

 Tufted Pansy, is quite sufficient inducement to create a 

 demand for these gems, when more widely known and 

 recognised ; and we cannot do otherwise than believe, 

 that, as time goes on, this type of the flower will be as 

 extensively cultivated, and be as popular as the larger 

 flowered varieties are at the present time. 



A list of the more noteworthy varieties of those re- 

 cently raised by my father, Mr D. B. Crane, and of other 

 really good sorts, is given elsewhere. 



