1 84 SEPTEMBER 



not care to disturb themselves by returning to us. 

 The woodlice, or " pigs," as Sterculus calls them, 

 are some of our most persistent invaders. 



Besides the frames and the house, the plants also 

 have to be cleaned. They are laid on their sides on 

 the ground, and are syringed with a weak insecti- 

 cide both under and over the leaves. The pots are 

 scrubbed, and everything is subjected to a severe 

 scrutiny before being set in winter quarters. A 

 mat placed under the pots while the syringing is 

 being done prevents the soil from splashing up 

 again on to the leaves and pots. This annual 

 cleaning is well worth the trouble we take over it. 



Sept. 75. This is the best time to prepare the 

 violet beds for the winter. If the plants have been 

 kept watered through the hot weather they will now 

 be of a good size and well set with buds. Some 

 care should be taken in filling the frames, and raw 

 manure must never be used if a steady supply of 

 flowers is required over a long period. There will 

 be plenty of bean and pea haulm, old sunflower 

 stems, or other rough stuff, with which the boxes 

 may be filled to the depth of a foot, and the 

 material must then be well trampled down to reduce 

 it in compass. A good light soil mixed with a fair 

 proportion of spent manure from an old hotbed may 

 fill the frame to within six inches of the top, care 

 being taken again to make the bed firm. Lift the 

 violets with large balls round their roots, nip off any 

 runners which may have formed, and plant closely 

 together in the frame. If they have been properly 

 looked after in the summer, they will begin to bloom 

 profusely in a fortnight's time. But one caution is 



