Plate 37. 



BEDDING VIOLAS AND PANSIES. 



We are indebted to Messrs. Dickson and Co., of Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, for the 

 opportunity of figuring the varieties of Bedding Violas and Pansies in our plate, and for the 

 following observations. " The first varieties were obtained some seven or eight years ago, 

 by hybridizing V. montana, V. cornuta, V. lutea, V. amana, and V. stricta, with Sbow Pansies ; 

 and by carefully continuing the hybridizing with the finest seedlings of each season, we have 

 now succeeded in raising a considerable number of valuable sorts, similar to those now 

 figured — raising annually from twelve to fifteen thousand seedlings, for the purpose of obtaining 

 eight or twelve varieties superior to those previously sent out. In selecting these we have 

 kept in view — 1. Habit, which must be branching and compact. 2. Flowering properties, which 

 must be both profuse and continuous j thus, while the native species V. amana alter two years 

 of garden cultivation could not be induced to bloom for more than six or eight weeks in the 

 early part of the summer, we have now got greatly improved seedlings forward, which 

 will flower continuously from the beginning of April to October. 3. Colour, which to 

 be used extensively must be of one shade, and that a distinct and striking one. There are a 

 few exceptions to these : such as Fairy, Fairy Queen, and Butterfly, with double upper petals 

 and distinct margin of golden yellow. 4. Size ; to this quality we attach the least 

 importance, the primary object being to obtain the greatest amount of a certain shade of 

 colonr within a given space, and this is probably better effected with a medium-sized than a 

 large flower, the former being less likely to be injured by wet weather." These flowers 

 are invaluable in wet seasons, as while geraniums and other bedding plants suffer much, they 

 continue to blow in the greatest profusion throughout the entire seasou. 



Plate 38. 



WALLFLOWER-LEAVED PYRAMIDAL STOCK, MAUVE BEAUTY. 



Stocks form a very easily cultivated, fragrant, and beautiful addition to the flower garden, 

 and we are therefore pleased to record the raising of a very beautiful new variety from Mr. 

 Richard Dean, of Ealing, who says concerning it : — " It came to me originally from one of 

 the London wholesale seed houses, and being much struck with the peculiarly soft beauty of 

 its colour, I thought it capable of great improvement if persistently and carefully selected 

 from for a few }^ears. What I this season exhibited, represents the result of some five or six 

 years' patient labour, and it is not a little worthy of notice that what has been obtained is by 

 the use of my own saved seed, during the time named. The percentage of double flowers was 

 this season fully 80 per cent. 1 have classed it with the summer-flowering pyramidal Stocks to 

 be sown in the spring, but it is also a first-class intermediate Stock if sown at the end of 

 August or early in September, and grown in pots. I believe that if some one were to grow 

 it for market purposes, it would command a ready sale. It has this season obtained first-class 

 certificates from the Royal Horticultural and Royal Botanic Societies." 



We believe that Mr. Dean is engaged in selecting other varieties of Stocks, with plenty 

 of promise of similar satisfactory results ; and it is pleasing to record, that not only in the 

 scarcer and more valuable kinds of flowers is the hybridizer at work, but that the more 

 common and accessible flowers are also being improved. 



