C< >MM( )N PLACE NOTES. 



707 



whole cane is cut out after the blossoming has well begun the plant 

 cannot often be saved. And if the seed is once formed there seems little 

 if any hope of saving the great majority of the varieties of the Bamboos. 



Violets in Winter. 



A Fellow asks us how to obtain a good supply of Violets in winter, 

 and as so many fail we may endeavour to explain, although written 

 instructions are so inferior to only a little practice. And first let us say 

 that there is no plant grown which suffers so much from " coddling." 

 Violets must be grown as hardily as possible, and they are best when 

 treated as annuals, in the sense of taking fresh runners every year and 

 never using the same for two succeeding seasons. The runners should be 

 taken as early as possible in the season ; they should be planted in the 

 open, in good soil, and left to grow ; in fact they will require no attention 

 beyond keeping the ground clean from weeds and syringing the plants 

 frequently in hot or dry weather, so as to keep down the attacks of red 

 spider, to which Violets are terribly predisposed. In August or quite early 

 in September the plants must be lifted with good balls of earth and 

 planted in frames on raised beds made of leaves and litter, with about six 

 inches of good loam and leaf-mould in equal proportions. The surface of 

 the soil must be about eight inches only from the glass. All runners 

 must of course be kept vigorously cut off, and again we say no coddling 

 must be done. The lights must be kept off as often as possible — indeed 

 should never be put on except at night, unless the weather is foggy, damp, 

 frosty, or wet. 



Publication of Journal. 



With regard to the delay in the appearance of the present issue, the 

 Editor requests Fellows to glance at the "Prefatory Notice " on page iii 

 of the loose " Title-page" and " List of Contents " which will be found 

 enclosed in the present issue. 



