18G6.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
S57 
Our Native Violets. 
We have growing wild in the Northern States, 
some seventeen species of Violet, and it is very 
seldom that we see one of them in cultivation. 
Perhaps their general lack of fragrance has 
something to do with this neglect. We are so 
accustomed to associate the delightful 
odor of the European species with the 
name of Violet, that there is a feeling 
of disappointment when we find ours 
scentless. Still we have several spe¬ 
cies which are really pretty, and would 
no doubt repay the trouble of any one 
who should endeavor to improve them 
by careful cultivation and selection. 
Some of them show a disposition to 
sport in color, in the wild state, and 
it is not rare to find white fiowered 
specimens of several of our blue flow¬ 
ered species. The Bird-foot Violet 
{Viola pedata\ is our showiest wild 
species, and quite handsome enough 
to merit a place in the garden. It has 
delicately cut, clean foliage, and very 
large flowers, which stand up well 
above the leaves, and have a fine lilac 
purple color. Occasionally a remark¬ 
able natural sport is found, in which 
the two upper petals are of a deep 
rich purple, and of the velvety texture 
of the Pansy. We are indebted to 
Mr. W. W. Denslow, of this city, for 
the specimen from which our engrav¬ 
ing is taken. This was found upon 
the upper end of Manhattan Island, 
and some years ago we had a similar 
one li’om near Baltimore. On one of 
the flowers, the side petals were par¬ 
tially marked with the same dark 
color, and no doubt cultivation w'ould 
develope flowers which would be vel¬ 
vety throughout. Mr. D. also finds a 
white variety. This species, which is a quite 
hardy perennial, grows naturally in poor soils, 
and when transferred to the garden should have 
a light sandy spot, where there is a partial shade. 
-' -- 
Slugs and Snails. 
is propably the European Limax cinereus. Dur¬ 
ing a dry time they hide in the earth, but when 
there is the proper amount of moisture present, 
they come out to feed. In some parts of France, 
where slugs are troublesome, ducks are kept for 
the purpose of destroying them. These birds 
are said to be so fond of slugs that they will 
Slugs and snails are so much alike, as far as 
the animal is concerned, that the suail may be 
considered as a slug with a shell, and a slug as 
a snail without a 
shell, or one so 
small, rudimen¬ 
tary, and hidden !•—slug. 
from sight, that it usually escapes notice. Both 
animals move in a slimy track by means of their 
contractile foot; both have four tentacles or 
“horns,” capable of extension and retraction, 
in front of the head, and both produce their 
young from eggs.—Slugs are a great pest to 
the European gardener, and sometimes to 
us. Being unprotected by a shell, their slimy 
bodies are unable to endure a diy atmos¬ 
phere, and the intense heat of our summers 
prevents their increasing here as they do in Eu¬ 
rope. Still, in spring they are often destructive 
to lettuce and early cabbages, and in a moist 
autumn, we have seen late cabbages com¬ 
pletely riddled by them. They are also more 
or less destructive to young and tender plants 
' generally. The slug belongs to the genus imaa;, 
of which there are several species. Our most 
common one is only about an inch long, but we 
have seen, rarely, a species 4 or 5 inches in 
length, and as large as one’s little finger, which 
BIRD-FOOT VIOLET, {Variety.) 
touch no other food while any are to be found. 
Slugs may be readily trapped by laying lettuce 
or cabbage leaves upon the ground. If these 
be taken up early in the morning great numbers 
of slugs may be captured and fed to poultry. 
Lime-water, tar-water, and diluted gas liquor, 
arc all said to be efficacious in destroying them. 
Snails are less troublesome with us than are 
slugs. We have never known any of our many 
native snails to do any appreciable injury, but 
the European horticulturist finds several species 
that he counts among his enemies. One of the 
European snails has long been known in Maine 
and Massachusetts, where it was early intro¬ 
duced, and we were interested last year at 
discovering it on Long Island, where it seemed 
completely naturalized in the vineyard of a 
friend. The increase of this animal in our or- 
Fig. 2. —SNAIL. 
chards and gardens is not to be desired, and we 
give a figure that will allow it to be recognized. 
This is what has been called Helix hortensis, but 
we believe that naturalists now consider it a va¬ 
riety of Helix nemoralis. It is much brighter 
and more handsomely marked than any of our . 
common land snails, and is easily seen when 
on the plants. They are readily picked off by 
hand. Both this and a larger species are eaten 
in some parts of Europe, where they are con¬ 
sidered not only as a valuable food for invalids, 
but they are also highly prized as a delicacy. 
Insects and Plant Pertilization. 
SECOND ARTICLE. 
The Iris flower, illustrated in our for¬ 
mer article upon this subject, (see May 
Agriculturist, p. 186,) is only a strik¬ 
ing and well marked case of what oc¬ 
curs in hundreds of other blossoms. 
Admirable as the adaptation here is 
for fertilization by insect aid, and 
plain as it is, when once pointed out, 
that the Iris could hardly ever seed at 
all unless visited by bees or such like 
insects, yet this has never been any¬ 
where noticed in print before, that 
we know of. If this is the case with 
such a common flower, we may be 
sure that there is yet very much to 
be learned about the relations of 
flowers to insects, and of insects to 
flowers. Many other flowers, however, 
have long been known to botanists as 
requiring the aid of insects, and as 
evidently intended to be so aided. But 
the question which abruptly closed 
our former article, still presents itself 
and demands an answer. Viz.: Why 
should insects be called in to do that 
which, by a little different arrange¬ 
ment, would be done by the flower 
itself, and which is done by many 
hermaphrodite flowers ? And can we 
believe that a hermaphrodite flower 
like the Iris, was ingeniously construct¬ 
ed in this fashion in order that the pol¬ 
len, however near by, should not fall 
upon the stigma of itself, and then that, by an 
equally ingenious arrangement, a bee or but¬ 
terfly should be enticed to the flower, and 
made to do the work of carrying the pol¬ 
len from the anther to the stigma ? 
The solving of this enigma has been left to 
our times, and is one of the capital hits of that 
sagacious investigator, Mr. Charles Darwin. 
The key to the solution of the riddle he found 
in the principle, recognized by breeders, that 
close breeding tends to sterility and debility, 
while cross-breeding among different individu¬ 
als of the same species obviates this tendency. 
If breeding in-and-in has this tendency,—and it 
is pretty well understood that it has, in the ani¬ 
mal kingdom and in the human race, and more¬ 
over, we could show upon general grounds that 
it is what ought to be expected—then cross¬ 
breeding or wide-breeding (as we may term it) 
must be essential, in the long run, to the per- 
lietuation of any species. Now, this fertiliza¬ 
tion of a blossom by its own pollen is the closest 
kind of breeding in-and-in. And in contem¬ 
plating this, Mr. Darwin was led to infer that 
even hermaphrodite blossoms should not be 
fertilized by their own pollen, at least for gener¬ 
ation after generation. Those that were so 
would be weaker and less productive after a 
while, and if so would certainly die out at 
length, unless artificially protected, to make 
room for the stronger races. 
This neatly explains the whole thing. Wide- 
breeding, i. e., crossing between different indi¬ 
viduals of the same species, is obviously pro¬ 
vided for in the many cases where the male and 
female blossoms are on different plants, and al- 
