06 THE LADIES' FLOWER-GARDEN 
7.— VIOLA ODORATA, Lin. THE COMMON SWEET VIOLET. 
with a hairy line; spur very blunt; capBules turgid, hairy; seeds 
turbinate, whitish ; stolons long, creeping, and rooting, (G. Don.) 
Enoratino Eng. Bot. t. 894. 
Specific Character. — Stigma hooked, naked ; leaves roundish- 
cordate, crenatc, smoothish ; sepals ovate, obtuse ; two lateral petals 
Description, &c. — The delightful fragrance of this species makes it a favourite flower ia every garden. It 
is a native of Great Britain, indeed of the whole of Europe and part of Asia, extending, it is said, to China and 
Japan. There is no doubt that this species is the violet of the ancients, as it is described exactly by Dioscorides, 
who recommends it for its medicinal virtues, as well as for its beauty and fragrance. There are numerous 
varieties of this species, eight of which are distinct. Of these some are white, some purple, and some blue ; and 
some of all these kinds are double. The most interesting and the most generally cultivated are, however, the 
Neapolitan and Russian violets. The Neapolitan violets are of a very pale blue, and very fragrant ; but their 
chief advantage is that they may easily be made to flower all the winter. For this purpose some excellent 
directions are given in Paxton's Magazine of Botany, vol. 3, for the culture of these plants, of which the 
following is an abridgment. " In the first place, cuttings are taken off the plants as soon as they have done 
flowering in May, and these cuttings are planted in light soil in the border of a south wall, or in any other warm, 
sheltered situation. A hand-glass is then put over them till they have taken root, and as soon as they begin to 
grow they are removed to another bed of light soil, where they are planted about nine inches apart. They 
should be watered in dry weather, and the ground stirred with a hoe. In August a bed is prepared, by digging 
a pit, of a size suitable to the frame which is to cover them, about eighteen inches deep. In the bottom of this 
is placed a layer of broken pots, brickbats, and other rubbish, about nine inches thick ; and upon this a layer of 
compost about a foot thick, of the following ingredients : — two barrow-loads of leaf mould, one of free loam, one 
of well-rotted manure, and half a barrow of clear sand. These must be thoroughly mixed by frequent turnings, 
and if mixed twelve months before using so much the better. After the bed has been allowed a few days to 
settle (for the compost will be at first two or three inches above the level of the garden), the plants should be 
carefully taken up, trimmed of their runners, and planted four inches apart every way. A frame like that for a 
hotbed should be put over the bed as soon as the weather begins to get cold, taking care to let the plants be near 
the glass, or oiled paper or canvas, which will do as well. The frame should be put on permanently as soon as 
the frost sets in, and not taken off at all (unless the weather should change to wet, and the plants should want 
drying), till the flowers appear. Should the weather prove severe, a lining of dry litter should be placed round 
the outside of the frame to exclude the frost. To obtain a succession of flowers, some plants may be placed in 
shallow 32-sized pots, and placed in heat (not more than 65° Fahr.) so as to flower from October to November, 
while those in the frame will flower from November to February ; and others, merely under hand-glasses, will 
come in from February to April." The only objection to the above plan is, that unless the plants are attended to 
carefully, the leaves and flower-buds are frequently destroyed by damp, particularly if they are potted in 
August, as is frequently done, when they are put under the frame immediately, and kept there all the winter. 
To avoid this danger, a correspondent of the Gardener's Magazine recommends the following plan, which is a 
very good one, though, like the former, it requires a reserve garden, or some place not in sight, to set aside for 
the bed, as it is not at all ornamental in a flower-garden, 
" Any time in the month of May mark out a piece of ground one foot wider on all sides than any frame or 
