VIOLETS, THEIR CULTURE AND PROPERTIES. 
99 
influence of the frost. At tlie time of propa- 
gating tliese plants, which is after they have 
done blooming, let them be parted and planted 
out in nursery beds, six inches apart, and in 
a soil such as is recommended for plants in 
beds. By September these plants will have 
attained a reasonable size, and may be taken 
up singly, with the earth about their roots, and 
potted in wide-mouthed forty- eight sized pots. 
These pots may be plunged to their rims in 
the beds they were taken out of, as close to- 
gether as the pots will pack, and taking care 
that they ai'e packed solid with the earth be- 
tween them. Let the width not exceed three 
feet, and across this let there be hoops, so 
placed, and crossed with a cord from one 
end to the other, three times, as to form a 
complete roof for mats. Let these be covered 
at night, and also against heavy falls of rain, 
or snow, or hail. Or if you have the con- 
venience of common garden frames and lights, 
they are better tban hoops and mats, because 
they protect without sacrificing the light, and 
the plant receives no serious check. The 
growth of these plants in pots is very steady, 
and from being protected against the cold 
winds and frosts that would keep them back, 
they are always forwarder than those entirely 
in the open ground. These potted plants 
may be taken out at any time for removal to 
any distance, or to the dwellinghouse, the 
greenhouse, or to plant in any particular place. 
For when they have been grown in pots they 
may be turned without breaking the balls of 
earth about them, and will not flag an hour 
if liberally watered, and perhaps not at all. 
The only thing that makes them flag is, when 
the roots have grown through the bottom of the 
pots, they break a good deal in removing, and 
if they lose roots they miss them directly. On 
this account they should be always sunk upon 
a hard bottom, if possible; and the most simple 
way of stowing them away, in September, if 
you have all the convenience, is to place the 
pots side by side on a stone floor, with the 
garden frame upon it, and completely fill the 
frame then with ashes, tan, sawdust, or what- 
ever is to go between them ; fill up all the 
interstices completely ; the roots will not be 
inclined to go through the bottom of the pot, 
and if they do they cannot strike into the 
ground. In November the plants will show 
bloom, and they may be taken wdierever they 
are required. 
IN HOT-BEDS. 
The parting of the plants at the proper 
time and planting out in nursery beds to grow 
until September, is. necessarily the same in 
preparing plants for hot-bed culture as for pot 
culture. In September, if you have any 
cucumber beds that have done work, under- 
mine the dung all round a little, but not all 
at once, and fresh line them with hot stable 
dung. You do not require a great heat for 
violets. Upon the old compost in which the 
cucumbers have grown, being fii'st however 
cleared of the old plants and weeds, put three 
inches of good loam from rotted turfs off a 
pasture, or, in the absence of this, clean loam 
and leaf mould, or loam and cow dung, the 
proportion of loam being two-thirds to one- 
third of the other. Let this be carefully 
levelled, and the plants taken up from the 
nursery bed are to be placed therein, six 
inches apart all over, and be watered over 
head with a fine rose waterpot, enough to 
reach the roots and settle the earth about 
them. The frame may be closed all but a 
tilt of an inch behind ; after the first day or 
two the frame may be tilted three inches be- 
hind, and lowered but not closed at night, 
for if closed the frame would be warmer than 
in the day time, which is contrary to nature, 
and therefore should be avoided. In the heat 
of the sun a mat should be thrown over the 
glass to keep off the burning rays, for they 
are not good for the plant, which cannot have 
too much air, and is impatient of the mid-day 
sun. They must frequently be refreshed with 
water to reach their roots, and when they do 
not require this their foliage should be 
sprinkled. You may soon gather violets from 
this bed, and continue to do so all through 
the winter by a succession of beds. The 
object of heat, though not by any means violent, 
is to be enabled to keep out frost, and to pro- 
mote flowering at a season when the cold 
nights would operate as a positive check; but 
there are seasons when it is mild enough to 
gather violets all the winter in the open air. 
IN CONSERVATORIES. 
There is no place in which the violet is 
more welcome than in the conservatory, but 
they require too much air to be pei'manently 
healthy planted out in the borders, although 
in some places they do pretty well in the 
ordinary borders. But the conservatory 
should have nothing more than is absolutely 
unavoidable out of flower, and therefore 
the violet ought not to be planted out with 
any view of remaining. .In September, look 
over the nurseiy beds and potted plants 
for such as show flower-buds, and carefully 
remove these into the shady parts of the 
border, where they will be least obtrusive and 
most effective. If there be any large plants 
in the ground, plant some roimd the stems so 
as to form a clump or tuft of violets at their 
feet ; also fill up corners, and here and there 
form patches near the edges of the borders. 
They are specially a ground plant, and there- 
fore do not look so w'ell any where as at our 
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