CHAPTER II 

 THE HISTORY OF VIOLAS 



WHEN we come to speak of the development of the 

 modern Viola we are on surer ground than in the case 

 of the Pansy. One reason for this is that a great deal 

 of the work has been done within living memory. 



At a Viola Conference held at the Botanical Gardens, 

 Birmingham, in May 1895, under the presidency of 

 the present writer, the late Mr. Richard Dean read a 

 paper on "Old Violas," which was reported in the gar- 

 dening press at the time, and is reproduced here, as it 

 is one of the most valuable contributions ever penned 

 on the subject. Mr. Dean said : " The credit of first 

 employing the Pansy as a bedding plant for forming 

 lines and masses belongs, I think, to Mr. John Fleming, 

 formerly of The Gardens, Cliveden, Maidenhead. At 

 the time he commenced his famous spring gardening, 

 somewhere about 1854, the distinctive term Viola applied 

 only to the odorata section and such species as found 

 a place in the botanical gardens. He had raised seed- 

 lings, and from them obtained the Cliveden Yellow, 



