20 History and Culture of the Viola. 



with much propriety, that this variety should be called unimaculata, 

 as the petals are entirely purple, with the exception of the eye of the 

 flower, which is small, and of a bright yellow. Other varieties, from 

 tricolor to pure yellow, and from nearly black to white, are to be 

 found in some collections in this vicinity. 



This violet should have but one name, "hearfs-ease;" for its cul- 

 tivation delights the heart of the florist, if he has any love of nature 

 in him. It blooms while "the coming frosts of later autumn" have 

 put most other plants in the garden to sleep for the winter; it remains, 

 as if unwilling to leave the sight of man; and sometimes, in a mod- 

 erate winter, it is seen, partially covered with snow, with buds ready 

 formed to usher in "young spring." The appearance of this flower 

 keeps alive the hopes of the cultivator, and as he turns his eye, for 

 a moment, from his favorite violet, to look for the crocus, with its 

 "cloth of gold;" and the anemone hepatica, clothed in its white, 

 pink or blue mantle, he is led at once to exclaim, with a bosom 

 heaving with joy, "summer is coming, cold winter awa'." In some 

 climates the violet is perpetually in flower, and there it received the 

 name of "forget-me-not J' 



It is a fact, as before remarked, that the violet has never suffered 

 from the caprice of fashion. Ever since it sprang from the bosom of its 

 mother earth, it has been the favorite of the cottage and the palace ; 

 children have plucked it with delight, and the most tasteful have watch- 

 ed it in all its progress, to its present high state ofcultivation. In 1832, 

 it was one of five flowers selected for show at the London Metropol- 

 itan Exhibition of Flowers, in honor of the Queen's birth day ; and 

 it will never lose a particle of its attraction. 



Perhaps those who are absorbed in politics, or governed by ambi- 

 tion, to whom nothing is sweet but the sounds of the comitia or the 

 eloquence of the halls of legislation, would take but little pleasure in 

 repeating with me the lines on the culture of this little flower, by that 

 "simple-minded peasant-poet," Clare: — 



" Violets, sweet tenants of the shade, 

 In purple's richest pride arrayed, 



Your errand here fulfil; 

 Go, bid the artist's simple strain 

 Your lustre imitate in vain, 



And match your Maker's skill." 



While I, bending over the first vernal violet that rears its head in 

 my garden, shall join with Wordsworth in praise of his favorite 

 flower, the celandine: — 



"Let, with bold, advent'rous skill, 

 Others thrid the polar sea; 

 Build a p3'ramid who will; 

 Praise it is enough for me, 

 If there be but three or four 

 Who will love my little flower." 



