22 
THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
p;ood bedding plant in soils and situations where the violas do well. 
The seed was sown in shallow boxes, and placed in a heated structure 
until the plants were well up, and the majority had acquired a 
moderate degree of strength. As soon as this was the case, they 
were carefully and graduall}' hardened off, and then picked out into 
a bed of moderately rich and friable soil, made up in a cold frame. 
Here they remained until they were taken up, and planted in the 
bed at the same time as the other beds were filled with their summer 
occupants. They were, of course, lifted carefully, and replanted as 
quickly as possible, and well watered immediately afterwards to pre- 
vent their receiving any unnecessary check. The remaining part of. 
the story is soon told, for the plants, as soon as they became estab- 
lished, commenced to flower freely, and remained in full bloom until 
a very late period. In fact, the bed was almost solid with bloom 
after all the other bedders had been destroyed by frost. Viola Per- 
fection, it must be understood, does not reproduce itself true from 
seed, and there were nearly as many difierent varieties as there were 
plants. Every shade of colour, i'rom pure white to deep bluish 
purple, and from pure white to deep golden yellow, was well repre- 
sented, a considerable number of the flowers being of fine form and 
substance, and a considerable number of the plants were remarkable 
by the compactness and vigour of the growth, and the wonderful 
profusion with which the flowers were produced. These several 
shades, all intermixed together, produced an especially good effect, 
and the bed for real attractiveness quite surpassed many of its neigh- 
bours. 
THE CHLTIVATIOX OP ALPINE PLANTS. 
(From Wooster’s Alpine Plants, published by Bell and Daldy.) 
HE cultivation of Alpine plants, or, as the term implies, 
plants which are natives of alpine or jnountainous 
regions in various parts of the globe, but chiefly in- 
habiting the temperate or frigid zones, has for some 
years past been mainly confined to gardens strictly 
botanical. A taste for their possession is, however, now on the in- 
crease, and collections are to be found in some of the private 
gardens of Great Britain and Ireland. These interesting plants 
are exceedingly well adapted for amateurs having limited accommo- 
dation, for they occupy little room, and are not expensive to pur- 
chase, and a good many of them are of comparatively easy culture, 
blooming from early spring till late in the autumn, and some even 
throughout the winter. 
Though a very general assemblage of plants is formed by gar- 
deners under the title of Alpines, these plants ought properly to be 
limited to such as grow on high mountains. The gardener, how- 
ever, adds to them all very dwarf herbaceous plants that are 
somewhat difiicult to preserve in a state of cultivation. Some of 
