226 THE AMERICAN GARDENER. 



for large sums ? There is an endless variety in tho %o 

 lours of the tulip. The bulbs, to have the flowers Tine, 

 must be treated like those of the Hyacinth. The tulip 

 may be raised from seed ; but it is, as in the case ol 

 the Hyacinth, a thousand to one against getting from 

 seed a flower like that of the mother plant. 



390. VIOLET. This is one of the four favour- 

 ites of the Spring in England. It is a little creeping 

 plant, that comes on banks under the shelter of warm 

 hedges. The flower is so well known to excel in 

 sweetness, that, " as sweet as a violet" is a phrase 

 as common as any in the English language. There 

 is a purple and a white. Abundance of seed is borne 

 annually by both; and the plant is perennial. If you 

 propagate from seed, the flower does not come till 

 the second year; but, one plant, taken from an old 

 root, will fill a rod of ground in a few years. There 

 is a little plant in these woods in Long Island, with 

 a flower precisely like that of the purple violet ; but, 

 the leaf is a narrow oblong, instead of being, as the 

 English is, in the shape of a heart ; the plant does 

 not creep ; and the flower has no smell. 



391. WALL-FLOWER. It is so called, because 

 it will grow, sow itself, and furnish bloom in this 

 way, by a succession of plants, for ever, upon old 

 walls, where it makes a beautiful show. It bears 

 abundance of seed, plants from which produce flow- 

 ers the second year. Some come double, sometimes. 

 If you wish to be sure of double flowers, you must 

 [propagate by slips of double-flowering plants. There 

 are the yellow and the mixed, partly yellow and 

 partly red. All have a delightful smell, blow early, 

 and are generally great favourites. I am afraid this 

 plant, even with covering, will not stand the winter 

 out of doors in America, unless in the south front of a 

 building, and covered too in severe weather; for, even 

 in England, it is sometimes killed by the frosts. 



