THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



233 



a pasture, where the grasses were red- 

 top and white clover. The roots of tim 

 othy and red clover would be rather 

 coarse. What is it that gives so much 

 merit and virtue to decaying sod? It 

 must largely be its physical condition, or 

 mechanical, the presence of the fibre 

 making it porous and enabling water to 

 pass freely through. One of the most 

 successful growers of Ehinebeck called 

 lately and in alluding to violets re 

 marked: &quot;I am not patricular about 

 soil so long as it is leachy, for they want 

 lots of water, meaning that he wanted 

 a soil that he could water freely with 

 out its retaining too much moisture. 



When this sod can be secured it should 

 be made into a pile of convenient size. 

 In October you have much more time 

 than in the short spring. Add to the 

 pile one-fourth of cattle manure. If 

 your soil pile is made in the fall there is 

 no need of the manure being rotten, for 

 by spring, and with a chopping down 

 and one or two turnings, the manure will 

 be absorbed by the soil. At the last 

 turning over of the soil heap, one peck 

 of bone flour can be added to every 

 cubic yard of the compost. Whether you 

 grow on shallow benches, deep benches 

 of one foot, or solid beds, at least six 

 inches of new soil should be supplied 

 every spring, for violets are deep rooters 

 and go a long way in search of food. 

 In case of solid beds, when removing the 

 top six inches of soil you should fork 

 over and mix in some manure another six 

 inches deep. 



Propagating. 



Many years ago violet growers thought 

 division of the clumps a good way to 

 propagate, and I can recall instances 

 where that method produced good violets 

 for several successive years. But one 

 trouble or another overtook them and the 

 bad luck was attributed to some other 

 cause. All growers, especially of the 

 Marie Louise variety, propagate entirely 

 by true cuttings. They are really run 

 ners, and start from the plant in quan 

 tity in the early spring months. If they 

 have made any roots into the soil, or air 

 roots, remove them entirely, and put the 

 cuttings into the propagating bed in the 

 ordinary way. No bottom heat in the 

 sand is necessary, therefore if you are 

 short of room in the bed you can fill flats 

 with two inches of sand and they will 

 do just as well. Don t crowd them in 

 the sand, let them be so that the foliage 

 will become dry after a watering. Shade 

 only from bright sunlight. In four or 

 five weeks they will be rooted and should 

 not long remain in the sand after being 

 rooted. 



For years we potted the cuttings into 

 2-ineh pots and of course that did very 

 well, but they are in much greater dan 

 ger of drying out in the little pots, and 

 now we think a well drained flat of two 

 and one-half or three inches of soil &quot; a 

 decided advantage over pots. See that 

 the bottom of the flat has ample drainage 

 to let water freely pass through, and let 

 the compost be finely sifted loam and 

 one-third well rotted horse or cattle 

 manure. In place of manure we have 

 \isnl thoroughly rotted leaves, and the 



The Lady Home Campbell Violet. 



young violets delight in it. We thought 

 once that a coldframe was the only place 

 for the flats till the young violets were 

 put into the permanent beds, and it is a 

 good place, but there is the great danger 

 of neglect, not ventilating at proper time, 

 neglect of syringing, etc. One year we 

 placed the flats beneath the shade of 

 &quot;the old apple tree.&quot; A long, wet, 

 showery time came on and ninety per 

 cent of our plants perished with spot. 

 So the greenhouse which you can venti 

 late and where the plants are always un 

 der your eye is the safest and best place. 

 I am writing for the man who grows 

 many other things besides violets, and not 

 the specialist who will have a house for 

 the special care of his young stock. Cut 

 tings are usually plentiful from early 

 February on, and that is the time to 

 propagate. The plants are transferred to 

 the beds from the first part of May till 

 the middle of June. I think the earlier 

 date the better. 



Planting should be done on a cloudy 

 or dull day if possible, or it will be 

 necessary to apply shading to the glass, 

 and some shading will be necessary 

 through the summer, or till the end of 

 September. This shading problem is a 

 difficult one. It is easy to put on a 

 heavy coat of white lead and naphtha (a 

 good* medium for shading). When the 

 temperature outside was 90 degrees and 

 the sun s rays fierce you would realize 

 that the shaded glass was a blessing, and 

 then again on a rainy, dull day it would 

 be gloomy, damp and lifeless, the reverse 

 of what any growing plant enjoys or 

 thrives in. 



I must still believe that in an even- 

 span detached house with a sashbar 



twelve feet long, a light pine pole per 

 fectly round and twelve feet long by 

 three inches in diameter, on which cheese 

 cloth was tacked sufficient when unrolled 

 to cover ten or more lineal feet of your 

 roof, is the thing. One end of this pole 

 would roll along the ridge, the lower end 

 on a strip of wood nailed over the top 

 of the bars a foot from the plate. To 

 roll up and unroll these poles appears 

 like labor and time, but it would pay. 

 In 10-foot or 12-foot houses where the 

 sashbars are not over six or seven feet 

 then lath shading on frames is preferable 

 to permanent shade of the whitewash 

 type, which is there when you want it 

 and a nuisance and injury when you 

 don t want it. 



The principal attention during summer 

 is syringing on all fine mornings to keep 

 down red spider. Always do this in the 

 morning, so that by night the foliage is 

 dry. Look sharp for absolute cleanliness. 

 Decayed leaves, abortive flowers, weeds, 

 etc., should constantly be removed, and 

 don t pull decayed leaves, but cut them 

 off and see that all cleanings from your 

 beds are burned, not allowed to lie 

 around on the paths. 



Watering is of first importance, but no 

 set rule can be laid down. Hundreds of 

 times during the year we are asked by 

 amiable ladies, How often shall I water 

 my palm, or some other plant. It is 

 tempting, and we feel like it every time, 

 to reply, Whenever it wants water, 

 but that would not do and might be taken 

 as flippant and an attempt to be smart. 

 Yet it ought to do for a gardener at 

 tempting to grow violets. If the water 

 ing passes quickly away it is not likely 

 you will err on the side of too much 



