AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



481 



VIO 



(dark blue), are the varieties most gen- 

 erally cultivated. Swanley White, and sev- 

 eral other double white varieties, are also 

 cultivated, and are prized more for their 

 anomaly than for their intrinsic beauty. Mad. 

 Millet, a double red or carmine-colored va- 

 riety, is also grown to some extent, on account 

 of its novel and unexpected color. Of the 

 single sorts the Russian, Schonbrunn, and 

 the Czar are the best. They are grown in 

 frames and in green-houses with and without 

 artificial heat. Formerly they were more 

 grown in cold frames than in green-houses, 

 but many of the growers have abandoned 

 frames, and grow them in small houses, giving 

 only sufficient heat to protect the plants from 

 frost. Some grow them in pots, while others 

 plant them out on the bench ; each way has 

 its earnest advocates, and either way will 

 give good flowers, largely in proportion to the 

 care given ; and there is no plant grown that 

 requires more, or will usually better repay 

 that which is given. The essential in Violet 

 culture is a strong calcare6us soil, one that 

 will retain moisture without becoming sod- 

 dened ; a low temperature (not to exceed 40 

 at night, or 60 during the day, ventilating 

 whenever practicable) without bottom heat, 

 the water applied without wetting the foliage, 

 and the plants kept clean from decayed leaves 

 and runners. With these attentions, failures 

 in Violet culture will be rare, without them 

 success will be equally rare. Of late years, 

 in all sections of the country, the Violet has 

 been subject to a disease, a spotting and yel- 

 lowing of the leaves, which has been com- 

 pletely destructive in a great majority of cases. 

 The cause of this I believe to be from the 

 same source as that affecting the Rose, Car- 

 nation, and many other kinds of plants used 

 for forcing in winter, namely, that the con- 

 tinued high temperature necessary to produce 

 flowers is contrary to what the nature of these 

 plants demands a season of rest in winter; 

 this being in part denied them, the plants are 

 weakened in vitality and consequently become 

 more or less a prey to disease. To avert that 

 as much as possible, cuttings should be taken 

 from the runners of the Violets in October, 

 rooted and kept in cold frames over winter, 

 which gives them the necessary season of 

 rest, and planted out at one foot apart each 

 way as soon as the ground is dry enough to 

 work in spring ; by midsummer they will have 

 started to grow freely, from that time until 

 the middle of September be careful that all 

 runners are pinched off, so .that the whole 

 force of the root can be used to form the 

 crowns for flowering, exactly as Strawberry 

 runners are pinched off to produce fruit. The 

 plants thus prepared for flowering about the 

 end of September are dug up with balls and 

 potted in seven or eight-inch pots, or planted 

 in five or six inches of soil in the benches of 

 the green-house at a foot apart. Shade and 

 water for a few days until they have made 

 young roots, after which give all the ventila- 

 tion possible until November. The mimerous 

 beautiful varieties of "bedding Violets" so 

 much used and admired in Britain, where 

 they flower profusely all summer, originated 

 in a cross between Viola cornuta, a native of 

 Switzerland and the Pyrenees, and V. pyrolce- 

 Jlora (lutea), introduced from Patagonia in 1851. 

 They are admirable plants for spring bedding, 



VIS 



but, unfortunately, will not stand our hot, 

 dry summers. American travelers in Europe 

 import tens of thousands of these annually, 

 only to be disappointed in finding that they are 

 entirely unsuited to our hot, dry atmosphere. 

 There ai-e several of our native species worthy 

 of cultivation in the border, particularly where 

 there is considerable shade ; the best of these 

 is Viola pedata, or Bird's-foot Violet, a species 

 that abounds in many parts of the country, 

 but nowhere more plentifully than what is 

 termed the Plains of Long Island, where, in 

 early spring may be seen acres of ground com- 

 pletely covered with these mauve-colored flow- 

 ers, sparingly mixed with its varieties, with 

 pure white, and light blue with purple striped 

 flowers. This species improves by cultivation, 

 and can be removed from its native home 

 without the slightest danger of failure. An 

 important feature is that it will grow any- 

 where, in sun or shade, preferring a light 

 sandy soil. In a favorable situation the flowers 

 will be an inch across, and produced in such 

 abundance as to completely cover the bed. 

 Where they can be used as a border plant, 

 they are very effective. The species of the 

 greatest importance as a florist's or as a gar- 

 den flower is V. tricolor (the Pansy or Heart's- 

 ease, which see). All of the species are 

 interesting, but are too numerous to be spe- 

 cially noticed. 



Viper Gourd. A name given to Trichosanthes 

 anguina. 



Viper's Bugloss. See Echium. 



Viper's Grass. See Scorzonera. 



Virens. Green. 



Virgatus. Twiggy; producing many weak 

 branches, slender, straight and erect. 



Virgi'lia. Lamarck dedicated this genus to 

 the poet Virgil, whose "Georgics" contain 

 many things interesting to botanists. Nat. 

 Ord. Leguminosm. 



V. capensis, the only species introduced, is 

 a green-house shrub with rosy-purple flowers, 

 introduced from South Africa in 1767. It is 

 seldom found in cultivation. The beautiful, 

 hardy tree known in cultivation as V. lutea or 

 Yellow-wood is now transferred to Cladrastis 

 as C. tinctoria, which see. 



Virginian Cowslip or Lungwort. The com- 

 mon name of Mertensia Virginica, sometimes 

 called Pulmonaria Virginica, a rather pretty, 

 herbaceous plant, occasionally grown in the 

 ornamental border. See Mertensia. 



Virginian Creeper. See Ampelopsis quinque- 

 folia. 



Virginian Date-Palm. Diospyroa Virginiana. 



Virginian Poke. Phytolacca decandra. 



Virginian Silk. Periploca grceca. 



Virginian Snakeroot. Aristolochia serpentaria. 



Virginian Spiderwort. Tradescantia Virginica. 



Virginian Stock. See Malcolmia. 



Virgin's Bower. See Clematis Virginiana. 



Virgin Tree. Sassafras Parthenoxylon. 



Viridis. Green. 



Visca'ria. Rock Lychnis. From viscus, bird- 

 lime ; in allusion to the glutinous sterns of the 

 species. Nat. Ord. Caryophyllacece. 



These are handsome, hardy annuals, par- 

 ticularly V. oculata, whose pretty pink and 



