6 
MORE REMARKS ON THE CULTIVATION OF VIOLA TRICOLOR. 
hy spring-, when if intended for masses they should be planted about six inches 
square, but if to show each individual plant separately one foot in the rows and | 
eight inches apart will not be found at all too much ; cuttings struck early in I 
fhe spring- would be better if planted under an eastern or western aspect, where 
they would strike readily, succeed the others, and flower in profusion throughout the 
summer ; seedlings and cuttings will come into flower about the same time ; it is 
generally a rule with growers to sow their seeds as soon as ripe, by which means 
as little time as possible is lost in proving their success. 
They will grow nearly in any soil or situation, but a good free loam is to be 
preferred, and where a bed is prepared expressly for them it should be composed of 
the following : three fourths good mellow loam, and one fourth dung, if the loam be 
not of a friable texture a quantity of clear sand should be added, the dung used 
should not be too much exhausted, or what is generally called perfectly rotted, but 
rather well prepared dung, still retaining its heating principles ; the advantage 
derived will be, that the bed will be kept open, and long continuance of dry weather 
(as experienced last season) will not have the same penetrating efl"ects ; this will be 
found of considerable importance when the soil becomes hard and baked during dry 
weather. 
As one of the characters of Violace^ is the corolla usually withering in a short 
time, and as scarce any are more liable to do so than Viola tricolor, those 
who wish to have fine flowers and preserve them as long as possible, choose a situ- 
ation for their bed where their plants may be partially shaded during the hottest 
part of the day, when this cannot be obtained, through trees or other natural causes, 
artificial shading should be resorted to in very hot weather ; the beds should be kept 
low, indeed under any circumstances they should scarcely be raised above the level 
of the paths. 
There is a method of growing Heartsease in pots, so as to have a very neat and 
novel eff'ect, although we have seldom seen it adopted ; it is training the plant to a 
single stem, until it has attained the height of one foot, or eighteen inches, which 
it will readily do, and then pinch off the extreme points, it will then throw out 
side branches with flowers in profusion, which when placed among small green-house 
plants or otherwise have a strikingly pleasing appearance. 
The criterion of a good flower is, that its petals be broad, and lying upon each 
other quite flat, so that the flower may appear nearly circular, this is of the utmost 
importance in exhibition, although there are many beautiful kinds which are not 
so ; it is a general practice amongst amateurs in Heartsease to bring their flowers 
to exhibition each covered with a small piece of glass or silver coin, which not only 
prevents them curling, but imparts to them that flatness in appearance so much 
prized and sought after ; the lower petal of the corolla should be nearly as broad as 
the upper ones, and nearly round. The colours should be clear and briUiant, the 
eye small and finely pencilled, but should it have these qualities without broad flat 
petals, let whatever be the splendour of its hues, it is discarded as unworthy of a 
siame, and would disqualify a stand of an hundred kinds of show flowers ; the goodly 
shape of the flowers seems to be the object sought, in preference to purity or brilh- 
