October 7, 1880 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 321 
VIOLAS. 
F you wish to have your flower garden always 
gay at a trifling cost—if you wish a bright 
companion for your chaste Snowdrops when the 
early spring sun glints on their snowy bells, or 
a lake of Tyrian purple in which to float the 
gorgeous scarlet of your Geraniums and Ver¬ 
benas under glowing midsummer skies, or a soft 
carpet of divers colours at the feet of your lordly Gladioli 
in autumn—if you wish to have a flower which in heat 
or cold, in storm or sunshine, in wet or drought, will be 
always bright and sweet—then let me recommend you to invest 
in a collection of Violas. They will not cost you much ; a few 
shillings jwill stock a small garden, and a few pounds will plant 
a domain. The price of one of Mr. Kelway's choice Gladiolus 
corms, or the cost of a single Orchid, will give you a supply of 
flowers nearly all the year round in every shade of colour from 
purest white to deepest indigo—marvellous shades of blue, and 
lilac, and purple, and crimson, and gold, which exist in no 
other border flower in such profusion and perfection. 
Violas had but a small beginning, but they are steadily pro¬ 
gressing towards greatness, and bid fair to become general 
favourites, and an indispensable adjunct to every well-managed 
and attractive garden. But to have Violas always except in 
the very depth of winter, and to have them in perfection, we 
need a knowledge of their ways and requirements, for, like 
every other plant,'they gratefully repay you for good and 
loving cultivation, and pine and dwindle away if neglected. 
Now, I love Violas ; I have hundreds, yes, thousands of them, 
and having grown and cultivated them for many years, will 
tell you all I know about them. Perhaps someone who would 
like to grow them, or someone who has tried and failed, will 
haply light on these lines in our Journal and exclaim with 
satisfaction, “ Why, this is the very thing 1 want!” I hope it 
may be so. 
Well, then, to begin. You would like some, of course, as 
early as possible in the spring, dotted in and out it may be 
among your Snowdrops and Crocuses, or your fancy may lead 
you to give them a bed to themselves. At all events it is now 
September, and by the time this is printed it will be October. 
Do not lose any time, but get your bed ready. Do not let it be 
in a shady place at this time of year, they like the spring sun 
and care not for frosts. Work it up fine and “ plumb " as we 
say in Devonshire, and put in plenty of good manure half 
decomposed. I am a great advocate for soot and a little lime 
in addition, because slugs and wireworms are terrible enemies 
of Violas when young, and they have a special objection to 
both the above manures. If your soil is a rather heavy loam 
so much the better ; mine is very heavy, and yet they grow like 
weeds. Buy your young plants as soon as you can. Booted cut¬ 
tings at this season are to be purchased at a cheap rate, and there 
is nothing better for present planting. When you receive them, 
if they come by post as they generally do, place them in water 
for a few hours until quite revived, and then, if possible, pot 
each separately in a small pot in sandy soil, and keep them in 
a rather close shaded frame until they appear to be growing, 
when more air and light may be given, and at the end of a 
fortnight or three weeks they may be planted out in their per¬ 
manent quarters. You can if you like put them out at once 
after standing them in water for a few hours, but some will 
then probably fail, and by the other method every plant will 
grow and establish itself strongly before winter. These are 
the plants that will bloom earliest in spring and onward until 
July, -when they will have seen their best days, and if left to 
themselves will grow shabby. But to keep up a continuous 
supply of flowers I like to make two plantings—one in October 
to come in with the spring bedding plants, and another in 
February for the summer garden. They should not be planted 
out for a bedding display later than the end of February, as 
they do not take hold of the soil sufficiently after that to make 
luxuriant growth. 
As for the earliest blooming plants, cut them down when 
they have lost their freshness, and they will soon throw up a 
fresh supply of young flowering shoots, some of which you 
had better use for cuttings, taking them out of the heart 
of the plants with a sharp twitch, when you will probably 
find them come up with a few small roots attached. These 
strike almost anywhere and at any time except in winter. I 
have them in all sorts of corners and places ; in the sun or in 
the shade, it does not seem to matter, they all grow, and 
having plenty of young plants they can be used as wanted. 
This is the secret of success—keep up a supply of youngsters 
to take the place of the old plants, and you will always have 
flowers. 
Now as to the best varieties. The best Whites are Mrs. Henry 
Pease, Crystal Palace, Pilrig Park, and Vestal, the latter rather 
creamy. Best Yellows—Sovereign, Golden Gem, Golden Per¬ 
petual, Brilliant, and Grievei. Best Blues and Lilacs of various 
shades-Amabilis, Bluebell (small), Admiration, Acme, Freedom, 
Waverley, and Holyrood. Maroons and Crimsons—Forerunner, 
Mulberry, and Attraction. There are a multitude of others, 
and I hear that Messrs. Downie & Laird of Edinburgh are 
offering some new varieties, said to be a great advance on the 
older sorts. But all are lovely, and I am sure that if you follow 
my advice you will succeed in adding a new charm to your 
garden, and have reason to thank—R. W. Beachey. 
SUMMER AND AUTUMN PEARS. 
As the planting season is approaching it will not be inoppor¬ 
tune to direct attention to some evidence that was published in 
our columns at the end of 1879 and beginning of the present 
year, on the merits of several varieties of Pears for summer 
and early autumn use. With the object of concentrating at¬ 
tention on this subject we published a series of portraits of 
good Pears, and the qualities of some of the best-known 
varieties were duly discussed. Figures of some of the later 
Pears will follow in due course, and in the meantime it will 
be well to summarise as briefly [as possible the opinions of 
Ho. 15.—Yol. I., Third Series. 
Ho. 1671.—Yon. LXIY.i Old Series. 
