874 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 1, 18S3 
a well-deserved popularity, and should it ever become very plentiful 
and cheap large quantities of it should be grown for cutting. It is 
most effective when interspersed with Maidenhair Fern. 
_ Collectors would confer a boon on the public, and would only be 
doing what is right, if they would state when sending home the 
fruits of their labours that they cannot guarantee all their lots to be 
what they call them. Unless they see them in flower they cannot 
be sure that all they are gathering are the same. People would 
then not feel such disappointment as when they buy something 
minutely described as so-and-so, when time reveals the fact that it 
is something entirely different. The day when Orchids will “ go to 
the wall” and other things take their place in the popular fancy is 
no doubt far distant, but the taste for them will be weakened rather 
than encouraged if high-sounding and seemingly accurate descrip¬ 
tions are given of plants that are really “ dark horses,” and may 
prove either very ordinary or extremely fine varieties. 
In the race to be first in the Orchids it should not be forgotten 
that time, which slowly but surely reveals the truth, will disclose the 
merits or demerits of plants that have been much discussed, it may 
be overpraised, or too harshly condemned. “ Take them and try 
them ” should be the motto of Orchid salesmen. If you gain a 
grand prize happy are you ; if not, try again. It is different with 
plants that have become established and have flowered, then accurate 
descriptions can be given and their value duly appraised. Many 
keen business men are taking up the growing-on of imported Orchids 
as a “epee.” No doubt some will make it pay, and others will not. 
Those who grow for the love of them it must be confessed are more 
likely to appreciate their beauties than those who grow them as 
they would anything else that promised pecuniary reward, but one 
and all are interested in having only clearly defined varieties dignified 
with different names. —Orchidophile. 
THE UNITED HORTICULTURAL BENEFIT AND 
PROVIDENT SOCIETY. 
In common with other readers of your Journal who have been 
anxiously looking for some public information from the Secretary of the 
Gardeners Royal Benevolent Institution (who I am sure has not benefited 
the Institution by his reticence), I tender my thanks to Mr. Heale 
for his letter (page 339), so full of useful information, calling our 
attention to the Society above mentioned, but I think it hardly fair to 
say we are lukewarm in not supporting it. In my opinion the Society is 
to blame in not calling attention to the benefits offered, and placing the 
same before the gardening community oftener. I have never seen an 
advertisement or announcement about the Society before, although I 
have been a reader of the Journal for several years, much to my benefit. 
I believe there are numbers of gardeners who have never heard anything 
about the Society until this week. I have written for a copy of the 
rules, and if they are satisfactory I shall join it and endeavour to induce 
others to do the same. 
It would be a good thing if country branches could be established, 
but the meetings not to be held at public houses, where I am sorry to see 
so many of the clubs are established at the present day. I should like to 
hear, Mr. Editor, your opinion on this question, as it is one of great 
importance to gardeners, which must be my apology for troubling vou_ 
A Sussex Gardener. j 
[In our opinion it is undesirable to have meetings of benefit societies 
in public houses whenever other suitable premises can be had for the 
transaction of business.] 
PANSIES AND VIOLAS. 
I feel sure that your correspondent, Mr. Wm. Plant, who asks me to 
define the difference between Pansies and Violas, could give the answer 
better than I can. Evidently it has occupied his mind, and as he comes 
fresh to the subject from the discussions of such thorough botanists and 
flower lovers as the Lancashire people are known to be, it stands to reason 
that he could, if he would, tell us much about the matter. It is rather 
amusiDg to read the rough-and-ready conclusion that some of the botanical 
societies have come to on the subject, that “all good flowers are Pansies 
and all poor ones Violas.” Ihis scarcely satisfies those who like a 
common-sense reason for all they talk about, and so we will go a little 
closer ; though if we do go closer I must not be expected to be able to 
clear up everything. 
The confusion and bewilderment with reference to the difference of 
Pansies and Violas comes very largely from the using of a generic name 
for a specific flower. Strictly speaking, they are all Violas, as Pansies 
are the offspring of Viola tricolor and its innumerable hybrids, and 
those commonly called Violas are more especially the offspring of V. 
cornuta and ^ . lutea. Gardeners understand them better by their eyes 
than by anything else, as any gardener would tell at a glance which was 
a Pansy or which was what is called a Viola. There is a great difference 
between the characters of the two flowers, and a practised eye would tell 
which was which at once with as much certainty as it would tell which 
was a Pelargonium as such, and a Geranium, the gardener who would 
detect at a glance the difference between the two flowers and say 
positively which was a Pansy and which was commonly called a Viola, 
would no doubt be greatly perplexed to be compelled to define the 
difference between the two. No doubt it would be better to speak and 
write about these flowers according to strict rule, and so speak and write 
of Pansies as hybrid varieties of Viola tricolor, and of Violas so-called 
of Viola cornuta, lutea, and other hybrids ; but if we did people would 
say we were pedantic. Our professional literature has a few curious 
things in it which confuse those in the outer circle of the garden, 
but which are as plain as the light to those who are to the manner born. 
May I suggest to Mr. William Plant that he and the botanical societies 
that he associates with should try to find a clear and easily understandable 
rule or law whereby the simple and unlearned may know the difference 
between Pansies and Violas, and also between Pelargoniums and 
Geraniums, as well as a few other families of plants that may be 
mentioned ? This would help us much.—H., Notts. 
To call all small Pansies Violas would certainly be leading the readers 
of the Journal to a wrong conclusion. We have the true Viola cornuta 
and also the largest Pansy. True, they are both of one family, but as 
widely different, particularly in size, as a cathedral to a hut side by side. 
What species our show Pansies were bred from would perhaps be difficult 
to say, as their improvement by selection and hybridising has been 
gradually going on for many years. I have often been told by my great 
grandfather that he had been growing them all his life, which must now 
be nearly a hundred years ago. Viola cornuta of course is nearly as old 
as the hills, but for garden decoration little or nothing was known of it 
until about twenty years ago, when Messrs. Wills and Bennett used it 
exclusively for bedding, and it was in great demand and cultivated 
extensively for edging. Soon afterwards cornuta perfecta was intro¬ 
duced, and in foliage, growth, and flower was as nearly half way between 
the ordinary Pansy and the Viola cornuta as it could well be. Since 
that time numerous crosses have been made and varieties sent out until 
we have got nearly back to the Pansy, and almost without a single 
exception they are inferior for a continuous blaze of colour for summer 
bedding. For instance, Blue Bell—this comes nearest to the Viola of all 
the present hybrids, and is a general favourite everywhere, and has 
driven Purple King Verbena nearly out of cultivation, although it stood 
upwards of twenty years and defied all previous purple-floweriDg bedding 
plants, and whereas if we had had no Viola cornuta we should have been 
obliged to use it now, even with its great fault, so subject to mildew, ice. 
The same with Yellow Boy, Viola, and Ardwell Gem. These with a few 
others of that colour have nearly vanquished the uncertain Yellow 
Calceolaria, and in a white variety Mrs. Gray even more clearly demon¬ 
strates the fact that the nearer we keep to the Viola the more value they 
are for summer bedding. This variety in foliage and growth is nearly 
identical with the Viola in its wiry habit, and it is by far the best white 
bedding plant in cultivation. Again, look at the horned Viola and a 
large show or fancy Pansy. The difference is very great, and those that 
have no pride for a continuous display of bloom in beds it would be easy 
enough to say the Viola is rubbish and not worth growing, and so far a3 
an individual flower is concerned the meaning is quite correct; but plant 
a bed of Blue Bell and one of Thos. Grainger and many others side 
by side, and the difference between the cathedral and the hut would be 
more than manifest; and if Mr. Plant cannot decipher this, why not let 
the two classes be distinguished as they are now understood by all?— 
H. Cannell, junr. 
LILIUM AURATUM. 
In March last I bought 100 Lilium auratum bulbs. They were firm 
bulbs, about 3 or 4 inches in diameter. My desire was to grow them as 
well as possible and to extend their period of blooming, and so I decided 
to make the most of the bulbs in various situations and under different 
modes of culture. In following this resolution I potted a number of 
them. Some were placed singly into 6-inch pots, others were placed in 
threes and fours in 10-inch pots ; some were planted in the bed of a 
conservatory, and a few were placed into the open borders. Although all 
the bulbs appeared alike their growths were not so. The little groups 
planted in the conservatory beds consisted mostly of fine bulbs. Certain 
bulb3 in some of these made stems 5 feet high, while others did not grow 
more than 18 inches high. Some produced eight and ten fine blooms, and 
others only one and two. Some were rich yellow in colour, and others 
were nearly white. All were no doubt L. auratum, but the diversity was 
surprising. In the pots the same variation of growth was observable, 
but on the whole they did well and were very satisfactory. 
The first blooms began to open in June, and the last were not over 
until the second week in October. Altogether the 100 bulbs kept up a 
constant succession of blooms for eighteen weeks or thereabouts. And 
what flowers ! The plants in pots were the first to bloom, and those in 
the conservatory bed were not far behind them, while some of those in 
the open were out in July ; but the wet spoiled the blooms so much in 
this position that I think it is a mistake to put them outside. They can 
be potted and be allowed to remain outdoors until the blooms are 
about to open, when they should be taken undercover, and they will soon 
expand. As to which of the bulbs will winter best, and grow and bloom 
most freely next year, I cannot yet say. It would, however, pay to buy 
in 100 or more bulbs annually, for such flowers are cheap at almost any 
price.—J. Muir. 
Destroying Mice.—I have had all my late Peas destroyed by field 
mice, aDd I have caught a lot of them in traps, but was unable to cope 
