164 



THE CANADIAN H0BTICULTURI8T. 



with its feet in the wet, unlike the 

 fragrant wliite wild Violet, which we 

 find in meadows and bogs. 



My Violet border is planned to give 

 a succession of bloom the year round, 

 the earth from the three-foot bed being 

 diig out two feet deep, and the sides 

 stoned up with rubble laid in mortar 

 with which coal-ashes have much to do. 

 This keeps the Violet roots from gad- 

 ding, and from freezing, likewise. Nine 

 inches of stone are filled in for drain- 

 age, with turf and some old pounded 

 mortar above, to keep the earth from 

 washing down, and the other foot is 

 Violet soil — good strong loam for the 

 basis, with liberal mixture of old barn- 

 yard stuff, and the top leaf-mold, rich 

 garden and sand with plenty of bone- 

 dust, which Violets love. The border 

 lies under the lee of a little wood which 

 skirts the grounds, facing full south, 

 but screened by tall plants the other 

 side of the walk. Here the roots will 

 spread into great crowns nearly two 

 feet across, within the year. In this 

 favored spot one may feel sure of find- 

 ing Violets in any month of the year. 



In autumn, a wooden frame and sash 

 goes right over the border ; plants that 

 have been gi-owing in the shady corners 

 of the garden are brought under cover, 

 the old ones well eni-iched and half 

 smothered in dead leaves, which are 

 heaped around the frames, and the 

 Violet season goes merrily into Christ- 

 mas-tide. New plants are coming into 

 bloom while the old ones are resting. 

 They get their bone-dust, their weak 

 tea of old leaves, old wood, and very 

 old manure steeped in rain-water when 

 the soil is very dry, and they do nothing 

 but grow and blossom. Only one thing 

 they ask — not to get too wet. You 

 can hardly give Violets little enough 

 water in cold weather. Only till the 

 earth is dry several inches deep, need 

 you water them, which will be once in 

 two or three weeks. They will bear 



the sashes lifted in sunny noons, and 

 warm winter rains for perhaps half an 

 hour ; but avoid letting them get 

 drenched, or having any drip from the 

 sashes. That brings yellow leaf and 

 decay among the crowns. 



Very few people know the varieties, 

 even, of sweet Violets which enrich 

 the border. The English, the Neapo- 

 litan, and the new Russian varieties, 

 are barely known by name ; but you 

 will hardly find one well-educated per- 

 son, not a gardener by calling, who can 

 tell the difi'erence. As the sweet Violet, 

 Viola odorata, is native in England, 

 Russia, Italy, and throughout Europe 

 and part of Asia, we may look for dif- 

 ferences of interest in all. 



Neapolitan Violets are pale, long- 

 stemmed, and so fragrant that you 

 think of Violet Attar in the room with 

 a cluster of them. 



Marie Louise is deeper purple, and a 

 rich bloomer, which with care, in the 

 open garden, starting early in a sunny, 

 sheltered place, will give flowers in 

 spring and autumn. 



The English Violet is deeper purple 

 still, and the standard garden variety 

 for ease of cultivation and sweetness. 

 Roots of this should be planted in every 

 sheltered sj)ot, under shrubbery, on 

 light wooded banks, the north side of 

 houses and arbors, wherever one wants 

 the winds to be laden with sweetness. 



The true Russian Violet is small ; 

 the Czar, large, deep purple, almost 

 black by the side of others, and very 

 sweet. 



The Victoria Regina, a large, deep- 

 hued, scented Violet, is not to be con- 

 founded with the Queen of Violets, 

 which is white, double, and large, vying 

 with the Belle de Chatenay, inimitable 

 for its tinged pale petals, which suit 

 the snow-wreath Heliotrope. 



The winter cultivation of Violets is 

 easy, and they are the most charming 

 of house plants, bearing dry air and 



