THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



house cool, for an excess of heat will cause 

 an abnormal rush of blossoms and spoil the 

 supply for Easter, when prices go up as high, 

 or sometimes even higher, than at Christmas. 

 When the season is over, which is usually to- 

 ward the end of April, the old plants, on which 

 so much care has been lavished, are ruthlessly 

 torn up; for the poor little victims can only 

 be profitably forced to winter flowering for 

 one season, and even during that short period 

 of time disease is so liable to attack them that, 

 to prevent infection, they are cremated on a 

 fiery bed of cedar boughs. Conforming to 

 this most necessary edict of commercial violet 

 culture is, to us, an annual regret. The soil 

 is also removed to a depth of six inches, carted 

 away, and spread broadcast on some field to 

 be plowed up; the house cleansed, fumigated, 

 and refilled as at the commencement. 



PROPAGATING 



Confiscating the old plants each season of 

 course necessitates raising young ones to take 



39 



