Violas Rugosas, Daffodils may relieve the bareness of the ground in 



among spring. If many bulbs are planted in the autumn, the winter 



Roses dressing of manure must be restricted, and the bed may be covered 



instead with burnt rubbish. Through the summer, soot and 



guano may be sprinkled alternately on the soil for the rain to 



wash in. 



If the beds be filled with Violas, a yet more continuous stream 

 of flowers will be gained. If there is room, it is an excellent 

 plan to have both old and new plants of Violas ; the old will be 

 solid cushions of bloom through April, May, June, and, if the 

 weather is not too hot, a part of July, when they should be cut 

 back, well watered and mulched, to give them vigour for their 

 fresh shoots. The cuttings, taken the previous autumn, should 

 be planted out as early as possible, but will have all their growth 

 to make before they can be really effective, and seem to be at 

 their best about July. The strongest plants are made from 

 cuttings planted out in the open ground and left with no pro- 

 tection through the winter, for in a frame they are apt to get 

 diseased or to rot off. It is best to limit oneself to four or five 

 good kinds, or to plant one sort only in a bed, so that the pale 

 mauves may be set off by the deep purple, and the white or 

 cream be seen against the mauve. The varieties vary a good 

 deal in their strength and power of flowering. Here on a 

 hot, dry, unsuitable soil the following kinds have done best : 

 Snow Queen and Skylark^ white with mauve edge, the strongest 

 growing of all ; Maggie Moore' and Queenie^ a light and a darker 

 shade of mauve, and Purple King ; but it is as well for every 

 gardener to learn by experiment the kinds that are most luxuriant 

 on his own soil. 



The smaller the garden, the firmer should be the determina- 



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