July 21, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
47 
W HEN Mr. John Wills, now of Onslow Crescent, London, but 
in 1863 head gardener to Sir Philip de Grey Egerton, Bart., 
at Oulton Park, Cheshire, created a sensation by his wonderful 
display of Viola cornuta, a plant then comparatively unknown 
excepting in botanical gardens, he little dreamt of the wide-spread 
popularity of the grand race of Violas we now have, and their 
great beauty and very extensive use for early spring and summer 
bedding. Not being quite certain as to the date of Mr. Wills’ 
introduction of V. cornuta, I wrote to him on the subject, and in 
a long letter now before me he writes :— 
“I saw at the Wellington Road Nursery in 1862 six plants of 
this pretty, and as I saw, most useful plant in flower, amongst their 
collection of hardy herbaceous plants, and I was so much struck 
with it that I wanted to buy the six plants, but Mr. Andrew 
Henderson declined my offer. After a good deal of pressing he 
let me have three plants, which I gladly took with me to Oulton 
Park and set to work to propagate. It was at the end of the 
summer, and I kept on driving away at their propagation through 
the following autumn and winter, and by May in the following 
year I was able to plant several large beds in the flower garden 
with them, besides in two long ribbon borders each 1500 feet 
long. They were a lovely sight, and when the shades of evening 
were closing around I looked on with intense pleasure, and my 
noble employer and all his friends were profuse in their expressions 
of delight at the arrangement, and my dear old friend, the late 
Robert Fish, when he saw it was transfixed to the spot with surprise 
and delight. I obtained Viola lutea in 1864 from Mr. Tyerman, 
then curator of the Liverpool Botanic Gardens, and I grew this 
largely at Huntroyde Park, Burnley, Lancashire, as well as 
V. cornuta, of which I had then fully a mile as edgings to the 
flower borders, in the kitchen garden, and elsewhere.” 
Mr. Wills’ letter is full of pleasing x’eminiscences of days long 
past, and to which I may refer on another occasion. It is, there¬ 
fore, nearly thirty years since Mr. Wills brought under notice the 
beauty and adaptability of Violas cornuta and lutea as bedding-out 
varieties. Previous to this date the late Mr. Fleming had been 
using bedding Pansies extensively at Cliveden, and for a long time 
the Cliveden forms of yellow, white, blue, and purple were used 
there and elsewhere; and although the yellow, white, and blue 
kinds have been superseded, and are now out of date, the old 
Cliveden Purple under this and other names is still extensively 
grown, and nothing has beaten it for large masses. I saw some 
splendid beds of it in May at Stoneleigh Abbey, near Kenilworth 
and Warwick, where my good friend, Mr. Beddard, gardens so 
wisely and well. 
It may be of interest to some of our younger gardeners and 
amateurs to get a glimpse of the early history of the Viola. In 
Don’s “ General System of Gardening and Botany,” published in 
1831, 170 species, besides varieties, are enumerated and described. 
Viola cornuta (to which I have already alluded) is a native of 
Switzerland and the Pyrenees, and on Mount Atlas, and is further 
described as “ The Horned Violet or Pansy.” Viola lutea is also 
described by Don as a native of moist mountainous districts and 
pastures in Wales, the north of England, and in Scotland, and in 
this species all the petals are bearded at the base. Violas lutea and 
lutea grandiflora are still cultivated in many gardens for their very 
No. 630.—Vol. XXV., Third Series.; 
early floriferous habit of blooming ; and in the Botanical Gardens 
at Edgbaston, Birmingham, two large beds of the latter variety are 
now in full bloom, but V. Bullion and others are now superior, and 
of the same colour. 
Viola calcarata is a distinct species, with better formed flowers 
than most of the species, and from this species I think we may 
trace some of the parentage of our modern Violas. Mr. Latham, 
of the Edgbaston Botanical Gardens, drew my attention to a 
charming coloured illustration of it in a German botanical work, 
“ Alpenpflanzen,” edited by Joseph Sebroth and Frederick Graz, 
published at Prague in 1881, a work ve-y little known, but of great 
interest to the student interested in hardy plants, as it is rich in 
a number of admirably coloured illustrations. The flower is of 
a brownish lilac colour, with the broader petals of the modern 
Viola, but with the horn very distinctly developed. It is described 
by Don as a native of the higher mountains from Austria to 
Provence. 
Viola tricolor, the old form of Pansy, a native of cultivated 
fields and gardens throughout Europe, Siberia, and North America, 
is also plentiful in Britain. In this species we have the parent of 
the grand exhibition Pansies of the present day, and our old 
writers record many pleasantries in connection with this flower. 
Don says, “ The Heartsease has ever been a favourite flower with 
the people, and has many provincial names, all bearing some 
allusion to love. In the days of superstition it was called Herb 
Trinity, probably from the three coloured flowers. Heartsease is 
the general name by which it is now known, its most elegant name 
being Pansie, from the French pensee , and the meaning is to be 
found in Shakespeare’s tragedy of “ Hamlet,” where Ophelia says, 
“ There’s Pansies, that’s for thoughts.” Heartsease was also 
reputed by our old writers on the “Materia Medica” as a powerful 
medicine in epilepsy, ulcers, and cutaneous complaints ; and Haase, 
who administered it in various and large doses, extended its uses to 
many chronic disorders. 
But to return to our Violas. I think V. cornuta Perfection 
was 3ent out somewhere about 1870 by Mr. B. S. Williams, and 
Enchantress and Magnificent were sent out a year or so after, I 
believe ; but I fail to remember the exact date, and if one or more 
did not emanate from the Wellington Road Nurseries. In 1873 
Mr. Richard Dean introduced Blue Bell, a variety which retained 
much of the V. cornuta character, and it rapidly became most 
popular. It was a chance seedling in his garden at Ealing, its 
origin being singular, as he had not previously had any Violas 
there. This variety is still cultivated extensively, and in masses 
is very effective. Messrs. Dickson & Co. of Edinburgh also took 
the Viola in hand, and raised a great many varieties, and I regret 
that I am unable to say here which of the leading varieties of the 
present time were raised by this firm. 
Some nine or ten years since I introduced True Blue, a seedling 
of my raising, still the best blue we have, of close compact habit, 
very early and continuous in blooming, and of good constitution, 
and really with a strong blue shade of colour in it. Then, just 
after, Mr. B. S. Williams introduced Mrs. Gray, a seedling raised 
at Eglington Castle, Scotland, a free growing free flowering white ! 
Then came many new varieties from various sources, and a 
great impetus was given to the Viola in the splendid batch of new 
varieties raised by Mr. Baxter of Daldowie, and sent out about four 
years since. This batch included Spotted Gem, Ethel Baxter, and 
York and Lancaster, still popular varieties. Their name is legion 
now. Raisers are at work throughout the kingdom, and I may, 
I think, lay some little claim to having raised some very fine sorts, 
such as Queen of Lilacs, Bridesmaid, Golden Queen of Spring, 
Golden Gem, Golden Circle, Master of Arts, Sir Joseph Terry, and 
others. What I now dread is the influx of many varieties which 
are really bastard Pansies and do not hold the Viola type of 
character ; also bad washed-out colours and varieties of Violas. A 
large number of flowers of seedlings are sent to me during the 
No. 2286.— Vol. LXXXVII., Old Series. 
