March 14, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



105 



ers. Later a bud is formed in the axil of the leaf, which, 

 on fruit-bearmg trees, appears between the leaf and the stalk 

 of the fruit-cluster. The branches, therefore, in their second 

 and third years appear to be clothed with opposite or al- 

 ternate leaves, although the leaves are in reality produced 

 on lateral branches. The leaves are involute and coated 

 on the lower surface in the bud with pale caducous pubes- 

 cence, and are furnished with lanceolate, acute, caducous 

 stipules slightly connate toward the base. The staminate 

 and pistillate flowers are produced on separate individuals, 

 the staminate subsessile, solitary or fascicled, the pistillate 

 solitary and pedunculate. The staminate flower is com- 

 posed of a minute scarious calyx divided to the base into 

 four acute apiculate divisions, and of an indefinite number 

 of stamens; the filaments are slender, elongated and in- 

 serted on a conical receptacle; the anthers are oblong- 

 lanceolate, attached at the base, apiculate by the pro- 

 longation of the narrow connective, and two-celled, the 

 cells opening longitudinally throughout their length. 

 The pistillate flower is composed of a membranaceous 

 calyx divided into four unequal sepals laciniately cut 

 on the margins, and of four or sometimes of five or six car- 

 pels inserted by their oblique bases on a prominent pyra- 

 midal receptacle ; they are gibbous and acute on the ven- 

 tral suture, and straight and rounded on the dorsal suture, 

 and are gradually narrowed into elongated slender styles 

 stigmatic on their inner faces below the middle ; the ovules 

 are inserted in a double row on the placenta and are de- 

 scending and anatropous. The fruit is a cluster of two to 

 six, more or less spreading oblong stipitate follicles tipped 

 with the persistent styles and splitting through the ventral 

 suture, which by a twist usually becomes external. The 

 pericarp is thick, light brown and lustrous, and is separa- 

 ble into two layers ; the outer layer is thin and membrana- 

 ceous, and the inner layer is hard and woody, and lustrous 

 on the inner surface. The seeds, which are closely imbri- 

 cated, in two rows, are pendulous, compressed, nearly 

 square, attached obliquely, and covered with a thin light 

 brown membranaceous coat, which is produced into an 

 elongated terminal wing three times as long as the body of 

 the seed, and slightly narrowed at the apex. The embryo 

 is axile in copious fleshy albumen, with plane cotyledons 

 about as long as the slender, superior radicle turned toward 

 the hilum. 



The affinities of Cercidiphyllum are with the Asiatic 

 genera, Euptelia and Trochodendron, which were united 

 by Bentham and Hooker into their tribe, Trochodendrae, in 

 Magnoliacete. * By Prantl f Cercidiphyllum is placed with 

 Euptelia and Trochodendron, in his new family, Trocho- 

 dendraceae, which is, perhaps, as satisfactory a disposition 

 as is likely to be made of these genera, which, in several 

 characters, resemble one another, but are not very closely 

 connected with Magnolia. 



In the last volume of Garden and Forest the illustration 

 on page 53 (Fig. 9) represents a noble specimen of Cer- 

 cidiphyllum Japonicum growing in the forest near Sapporo, 

 on the island of Yezo. That on page 107 of the present issue 

 represents the upper portion of another tree in the same 

 locality, and shows the numerous slightly spreading stems 

 and the small pendulous branches which this tree usually 

 produces in its native forests. C. S. S. 



Cultural Department. 



The Cultivation of Violets. 



'"THE best time to propagate Violets, in my opinion, is from 

 ■*• the middle to the end of April, when the plants finish 

 blooming. Some growers divide the old plants to single 

 crowns, and plant them outdoors at once, while the greater 

 number of cultivators prefer runners for new stock. I have 

 tried both methods, and find that while the plants grown 

 from single crowns are larger, the flowers produced from 



* Gen., i., 954. 



t Engler& Prantl, Pflanzcnfavt., iii., pt. ii., 21. 



runners are superior in size, of a darker color, have larger and 

 stiffer stems, and are much more numerous. 



To produce good Violets it is quite unnecessary to com- 

 mence propagating any earlier than I have suggested. Violets 

 resent coddling, and a great many failures are caused by too 

 early propagation and carrying the runners in heated houses 

 during a large part of the winter. It is neither necessary nor 

 desirable to have large clumps in the fall of the year. A small 

 plant with one good crown will give good blooms, and more 

 of them in proportion to the ground occupied, than a plant 

 composed of several crowns. When our plants are done 

 blooming we insert the runners quite thickly in well-drained 

 boxes of sand, and place them in a shaded cold frame close 

 up to the glass. Air is freely admitted at all times, watering 

 carefully attended to, and few. runners fail to take root. 



From the beginning to the middle of June we plant out the 

 runners in rows between Currant and Gooseberry bushes, al- 

 lowing a foot between each plant. They are well watered 

 when set out, and no further attention is given them until lift- 

 ing-time beyond the necessary hoeing, weeding and remov- 

 ing of runners. The Violets are set between rows of fruit- 

 bushes to economize space, and they will do fully as well in 

 any open space in a batch by themselves. If the ground is 

 moist, all the better, and a shaded location is not necessary. 



We lift ourVioletsaboutSeptember ist. Except a few which 

 are grown in eight-inch pots on a shelf in the Carnation-house, 

 they are all placed in cold frames. Our frames face almost due 

 south, which does not give the conditions recommended by 

 many Violet-growers. In the bottom of the frames we place 

 nine inches of well-rotted manure, and over this a compost 

 composed of loam, chopped leaves, half-rotted cow-manure 

 and about a half-barrow-load of sand is used to a sash. The 

 loam, leaves and manure are in equal proportions. Twenty- 

 four plants are placed in a sash. A thorough soaking of water 

 is given after the planting, and watering is carefully attended 

 to as it is required. Sashes are not placed over the plants until 

 frost is expected. In November we pack the sides of the 

 frames with dry leaves to the thickness of eight inches ; by 

 this means, with the aid of mats and shutters, frost is kept out 

 when the temperature is below zero. A freezing will not in- 

 jure the plants, but it is advisable to let them thaw out before 

 exposing them to sunlight. Snow must not be allowed to lie 

 on the frames for more than two or three days at a time, and 

 the plants should be aired at every suitable opportunity. They 

 should be gone over at least once a week, and all decaying 

 and diseased foliage be removed. Watering must not be 

 neglected ; more Violets are ruined by being kept too dry than 

 too moist. During this winter I find that our plants were 

 watered once in December, twice in January, three times in 

 February, and every three or four days in March. Liquid- 

 manure is applied from February onward. The watering must 

 be done on the morning of a clear, bright day, and the plants 

 must not be wet from overhead during the winter months. 

 After the middle of March the watering may be done in the 

 evenings. During the early part of March we give our sashes 

 a coat of lime-wash ; this is not only beneficial to the plants, 

 but the flowers do not lose their color so rapidly. 



Since the middle of October we have picked Violets at least 

 once a week, and at this time are getting an average of 500 

 flowers from each sash during a week. For our main crop 

 we grow only Marie Louise, and have had no spot on it for 

 the past two seasons. Swanley White and The Czar, growing 

 side by side, spotted quite badly last August, and as applica- 

 tions of Bordeaux mixure did not remedy the trouble the plants 

 were not lifted. For a late supply we grow the Double Rus- 

 sian, which does not give much bloom until the middle of 

 March. There is no variety equal to Marie Louise, if it can 

 be well grown, but to those who are not successful with it I 

 would recommend Lady Hume Campbell, which I have seen 

 in very fine condition this winter. Though paler in color than 

 Marie Louise, the flower is of large size, very fragrant, and 

 much superior to Neapolitan. The Czar, Wellsiana and Vic- 

 toria Regina are useful single varieties and of good color, 

 and a limited number of these are worth growing for their 

 foliage alone, as the leaves on Marie Louise are never very 

 large. 



We find that Violets succeed better in a compost such as we 

 are using this season, than in a stiffer and heavier soil used in 

 previous years. If flowers are wanted during the entire win- 

 ter from cold frames, as sunny a location as possible must be 

 selected, and as Violets are moisture-loving plants they must 

 never be allowed to become at all dry at the root. 



The roots of Violets are considerably injured in lifting in the 

 fall, and we purpose avoiding root-disturbance by planting a 

 few sashes with runners in June and watering them well all 



