AprU 6, 1871. ] 



JODENAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEfj. 



255 



for people to act on the fact that too much nursing ia as danger- 

 ous to some plants as too much cold and exposure are to others. 

 It could not be such ignorance on the young ladies' part. Of 

 all Violets, there are none sweeter to us than the retiring blue 

 and white sweet blooms, though small, that in many places 

 are found on our hedgebanks and woodlands in spring. This 

 may be partly owing to the fact that we never see such retir- 

 ing sweetness without thinking of the times when in our young 

 days we timidly presented a carefully culled posy to the bright- 

 eyed maiden we dearly loved, and dreamed about hundreds of 

 times, without ever being able to summon up the courage to 

 say a word of the love which we felt. Ah, there have been to 

 numbers of us many a monitor to conscience, many a green 

 spot in memory, many an incentive to keep a youthful ever- 

 green heart within us — even though we are now, as our friends 

 tell us, becoming " old Gooseberries" — that have been the con- 

 sequences of agencies that the agents themselves never knew. 



The next sweetest, though individually small, is the Kussian 

 Violet. It may be raised from seed ; in general it comes very 

 true, and in a bed we have seen thousands of seedlings self- 

 sown. The only objection to them is that they do not bloom 

 so early or so profusely as plants raised from cuttings of 

 runners, or, better still, by division of the plant. We would, 

 therefore, advise procuring some plants, either now or as soon 

 as they are out of bloom, then tearing the large plants to pieces, 

 and planting every bit which has a little root, say 4 inches 

 apart, in rich, rather light loamy soil, shading them a little till 

 they are growing freely, and afterwards giving all the air and 

 sun possible, with waterings when necessary. Such plants in 

 a mild winter would produce flowers all the winter. Here let 

 it be remarked, however, that though it would require a strong 

 frost to injure the plants, a frost of no great keenness wDl rob 

 the blooms of their scent : hence, when an opportunity ofiers, 

 every alternate plant in the rows, and every alternate row, 

 might be taken up and planted under glass, or potted in 4 or 

 0-inch pots^for the window. If this is not done, and the blooms 

 are valued, they must be protected with mats, &c,, in severe 

 frosty weather. The plant is so hardy that scarcely anything 

 will much injure it, except excessive moisture. We have a bed 

 that will do little good until late, if then, from being twice 

 flooded during winter. We put a bank up to prevent the water 

 from a slope of gravel flowing over it, but the mischief was 

 effected before we did so. We had plenty more, otherwise we 

 should have missed them. 



On raised banks, wherever there is no stagnant moisture, the 

 Bnssian Violet will flourish, but it likes change of soil. On 

 the whole it may be said to do best the second season ; but 

 little pieces planted in April, attended to during summer, and 

 free from excess of moisture in autumn and winter, will pro- 

 duce in abundance in the following winter and spring. From 

 such plants, say from u to 6 inches in diameter, we would 

 hardly venture to say the number of scores of blooms we have 

 counted in March. To have the flowers large for the sort, the 

 plants should not remain long in the same ground — not more 

 than two years, though moderate-sized flowers may be obtained 

 from plants that have so stood for a number of years. Keep- 

 ing in view what is said above of the effects of frost on the 

 scent, we have often been surprised at the number of gather- 

 ings which could be had from one or two lights in a frame or 

 pit filled rather closely with small plants which had been well 

 exposed during the previous summer. We do not know of any 

 sort that will yield in winter and early in spring such a quantity 

 of bloom in a small space, and the scent is rich, though the 

 individual flowers are small. 



The next best Violet, in point ol earliness, and far superior 

 in size, is a triple-sized Kussian — The Czar. The whole plant, 

 leaves as well as flowers, is much larger, and the plant is 

 equally hardy, though with us it does not bloom in general so 

 early ; but out of doors we had some gatherings at the end of 

 February, and we have had them fine throughout March. We 

 had some in a cold pit that did tolerably well in winter, though 

 the quantity of flowers would not equal that from the Russian. 

 Besides the size and richness of the bloom, the strength and 

 length of the stem or footstalk of the flower is a great ad- 

 vantage. With all lovers of the Violet it is well worthy of a 

 place, planted out in a cold pit or in pots for the winter, to 

 precede those out of doors. It is very common to have under 

 glass large flowers on footstalks from 6 to 8 inches long without 

 other artificial heat than the glass covering — a matter of im- 

 portance when using mixed flowers for an epergne or vase. We 

 have noticed no seedlings of The Czar coming naturally, and, 

 indeed, we have not noticed any seed pods, though that might 



be owing to not looking for them ; but here, as in the case of 

 the Kussian Violet, we would advise obtaining a few bulky 

 plants, and from April to May tearing them into as many 

 pieces as it is possible to make, with a little bit of root attached 

 to each. The pieces which have no roots should be placed at 

 first under a hand-light. Plant the former 6 inches apart if 

 you purpose to take up every alternate row, and every alternate 

 plant in the row left, to be potted or put under glass. This 

 kind wants at least a foot of space when allowed to grow in the 

 open ground, as the plant is a free-grower. Little pieces 

 planted out last May a foot apart nearly cover the ground now, 

 and have yielded in great abundance. This kind succeeds best 

 in a rich rather loamy soil ; and if our soil were light we would 

 not only give it a fair portion of manure, but we would make 

 it as firm as possible. One of our contributions to the garden- 

 ing of the hereafter would be this idea, of consoUdating soil light 

 and sandy, and manure top-dressing. By so doing we could 

 grow plants having that preference whilst securing many of the 

 advantages of a compact loamy soil. We have had The Czar 

 blooming beautifully in pots, taking up the plants in October 

 with good balls, and potting them firmly, not loosely ; but, like 

 most Violets, it will not stand much heat. Our short expe- 

 rience would lead us not to keep it longer than two years in 

 one place. Our actual practice has been with one-year-old 

 plants — that is, the little bits of last May have flowered most 

 freely this spring, and those under glass moderately in a cold 

 pit in winter. But for the dark winter, they no doubt would 

 have done better. The litter over the glass was several times 

 not removed for three weeks. A good plant in a 6-inch pot, 

 potted in October and protected until the New Year, ought to 

 yield many flue blooms in a window after the middle of Feb- 

 ruary. 



Of white Violets, after trying a number of single and double 

 varieties, we have actually fallen back on what we consider to 

 be the single white of the hedgerows. We have just now 

 (March 25th) a short row, 15 inches wide, a white cloud of this 

 1 sweet-scented variety, and it comes in well to relieve blue and 

 t lilac kinds. Cultivation greatly improves the common white. " 

 The flowers range between the sizes of the Kussian and The 

 Czar. It, too, is the better of frequent changes of soil, and 

 may be easily increased by runners and division. All the 

 double whites which we have been able to see and grow have 

 been rather dirty in their white, have not bloomed freely, or 

 had very short, slender footstalks. 



We lately stated that we had not seen the many new Violets, 

 and requested information respecting them. Since then a 

 gentleman highly praised a double one. The Queen, and sent a 

 couple of pot plants, small, but showing flower. 'What it will 

 be when it has more room to show itself we cannot say, but 

 the flower at present, though double, is a sort of mixture of 

 white, pink, and grey — neither one thing nor another. How- 

 ever, we cannot give a character to it, for if fairly tried it may 

 be a very fine variety, and worthy of its name. The flower 

 promises to be about the size of the Double Blue. 



Of all hardy double varieties, the Double Blue is perhaps the 

 best. There are many varieties of it, such as the Tree Violet, 

 the flowers smaller and more orbicular in form than the old 

 blue, which has flowers flatter and larger. So far as the tree 

 form is concerned, one can make every kind of Violet into a 

 tree Violet by growing the Violet to a single stem from 4 to 

 10 or more inches in height, and leaving a head like a little 

 Palm or tree Fern. These do best in pots, and well treated 

 with rather close loam and rich manure produce blooms freely. 

 Out of doors this fine double blue Violet does not fiower so 

 early as the Kussian or The Czar. It will always repay the 

 attention given to it. It is greatly improved by fresh quarters 

 every two or three years, and a loamy or compact soil well en- 

 riched with decayed manure. Anything like standing moisture 

 is its abomination. When well cultivated, the flowers of this 

 kind are large, and are valuable for distillation, also, as already 

 stated, for drying. For bouquets and vases the shortness of the 

 flowerstalks is a drawback, but great quantities of rich-scented 

 blooms may be obtained from a small space. It is propagated 

 by runners, but beet by division of the plants. 



With regard to our favourite, the lilac Neapolitan, to succeed 

 well out of doors it requires a warm place, free from stagnant 

 moisture. It is well worth the protection of a cold pit or 

 frame. It will do very fairly for two years, but it succeeds best 

 when the plants are taken up, divided into little pieces, planted 

 say 8 inches apart in rich loamy hght soil, watered during the 

 summer, not a single runner allowed to grow, and then the 

 plants taken up and potted firmly, or planted firmly in a bed 



