The Dog Tooth Violet. 323 



Constitution. — We do not know of a flowering plant so completely 

 under the control of the gardener or amateur as the azalea ; it will 

 bear from ten to twenty degrees of frost, with dryness of atmosphere, 

 or seventy degrees of heat, with moisture. It will succeed in a pit, 

 green-house, plant-cabinet, or flower room. Give it sunlight if above 

 freezing, and darkness if frozen. The old Indian white bears planting 

 out here as well as the rhododendron. In more southern latitudes they 

 are planted out as garden shrubbery, being more hardy than the camel- 

 lia, and not so particular in soil. 



Training. — " Ivly plants are so rugged, how can I make them like 

 yours.''" This is an oft-repeated question. As soon as they are done 

 blooming, cut them with the knife into any form you desire, give a 

 fresh repotting, reducing a part of the old soil, and they will soon push 

 forth with a freshness of vigor ; as they grow, tie them into form, giv- 

 ing one pinching, and they will bloom freely the coming season. 



Young plants can be trained into any form we prefer them — on 

 stems of about one foot, and then trained into an vmibrella shape, or 

 even a cone shape. Those half standards can always be obtained at 

 any well-appointed green-house nurser\-. 



(To be continued.) 



THE DOG TOOTH VIOLET. 



Looking over my bound set of the Journal of Horticulture, I notice 

 in the first article that your correspondent, !Mr. Parkman, to whom I, 

 in common with many others of your readers, am under deep obliga- 

 tion, remarks that " the American yellow dog tooth violet is very shy 

 of flowering in the garden." Noav I remember, when a boy, digging 

 up some of the bulbs and planting them in my little garden, where they 

 flowered without care for several years. They were planted in a light 

 loam, w^ithout special preparation. O. A. 



