VIOLA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



VIOLA. 



859 



no family has given our gardens any- 

 thing more precious than the numerous 

 races of Pansies and the various kinds of 

 large, showy, sweet-scented Violets. Far 

 above the faint blue carpets of the various 

 scentless wild Violets in our woods and 

 heaths, our thickets and bogs, and above 

 the miniature Pansies that find their 

 home among our lowland field-weeds ; 

 far above the larger Pansy-like Violas 

 (varieties of V. lutea) which flower so 

 richly in the mountain pastures of northern 

 England and even on the tops of stone 

 walls ; above the large, free-growing 

 Violets of the American heaths and 

 thickets, we have true alpine Violets, 

 such as the yellow two-flowered Violet 

 (V. biflora), and large blue Violets such 

 as the V. calcarata and V. cornuta. It 

 would be difficult to exaggerate the 

 beauty of these alpine Violets. They 

 grow in a turf of high alpine plants not 

 more than an inch or so in height. The 

 leaves do not show above this densely- 

 matted turf, but the flowers start up, 

 waving everywhere thousands *of little 

 banners. Violets are of the easiest 

 culture ; even the highest alpine kinds 

 thrive with little care, and V. cornuta and 

 V. calcarata of the Alps and Pyrenees 

 thrive even more freely than in their 

 native uplands, the foliage and the stems 

 being much stronger. Some of the many 

 stronger varieties of the Sweet Violet 

 might be naturalised with advantage. 

 Slow-growing compact kinds, like the 

 American Bird's-foot Violet, enjoy, from 

 their stature and their comparative slow- 

 ness of growth, a position in the rock- 

 garden or in the choice border, and in 

 such a position they are of easy culture 

 in moist sandy soil. Violets of all kinds 

 are easily increased by cuttings from 

 stout short runners. All runners that are 

 wiry and hard should be rejected, and 

 none should be taken from plants that 

 have grown in pots or under glass. The 

 cuttings should be taken off the first 

 week in April if they are to bloom next 

 year. They should be put under hand- 

 lights on a shady border, and kept close 

 until they begin to grow, when the lights 

 may be tilted a little, and the space 

 gradually increased until at last the lights 

 may be wholly dispensed with. By 

 September the plants will be ready for 

 transplanting, and may be placed in beds 

 4 ft. wide, three rows I ft. apart being 

 in one bed. This space will afford room 

 to hoe between the rows while they are 

 growing. They will soon spread and fill 

 the beds, but they must not remain more 

 than two, or, at the most, three years in 



the same place, or the flowers will become 

 small and short stemmed. If they are 

 more than two years in the same place, 

 they must receive liberal top-dressings of 

 rotten manure, or copious applications of 

 manure water. Another mode of pro- 

 pagation, which is perhaps attended with 

 less trouble, is to get a few large plants 

 as soon as they have done blooming, and 

 to tear them into as many pieces as 

 possible, each piece having a little bit of 

 root attached to it. Little pieces without 

 roots may be placed under hand-lights 

 and treated like cuttings. 



The following are among the most 

 desirable for general cultivation : 



V. biflora (Two-flowered Yellow 

 Violet}. This bright little Violet is a 

 lovely ornament on the Alps, and in many 

 parts it densely clothes every chink 

 between the moist rocks. It even crawls 

 under great boulders and rocks, and lines 

 shallow caves with its fresh verdure and 

 its little golden stars, and is useful in 

 rock-gardens where rude steps of stone 

 give winding pathways. It will run 

 through every chink between the steps. 

 Europe, N. Asia, and America. 



V. calcarata (Spurred Violet}. This 

 plant resembles the well-known V. cornuta 

 in flower and spur, but, instead of form- 

 ing leafy tufts, it increases by runners 

 under the earth. V. calcarata is a pretty 

 plant on the Alps, usually found in high 

 situations, amidst dwarf flowers, and is so 

 plentiful that its large purple flowers 

 sometimes form sheets of colour, and it 

 is as charming in the rock-garden as in 

 its native wilds. Its yellow variety (flava) 

 is the same as V. Zoysi. 



V. cornuta (Horned Pansy], A moun- 

 tain Pansy, with sweet-scented flowers 

 pale blue or mauve, valuable but super- 

 seded by the many charming tufted 

 Pansies raised during recent years. Alps 

 and Pyrenees. Division, cuttings, or 

 seeds. 



V. cucullata (Large American Violet} 

 bears some resemblance to the common 

 Violet, though without its delicious scent. 

 It belongs to a section which includes V. 

 primulasfolia, blanda, obliqua, sagittata, 

 palmata, delphinifolia, canadensis, pube- 

 scens, striata, and others only fitted for 

 a place in botanical collections. 



V. gracilis is a remarkably pretty 

 dwarf species, never failing to produce 

 in spring an abundance of deep purple 

 blossoms in dense tufts. It is hardy in 

 light soil. Mount Olympus. 



V. lutea (Mountain Violet}. The 

 yellow form of this Violet is very neat 

 and compact, 2 to 6 in. high. From April 



