May IS, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
375 
wise good group is spoilt by a defective front line. When a 
commencement is made from the back, and the plants happen to be 
tall, it is difficult to bring them down in due proportion without 
exposing too much the supports of empty pots and blocks of wood 
employed in the requisite elevations. Unless the plants are grown 
exactly to suit the purpose the plan of commencement of staging 
from the back is wrong ; but if a start is made from the front an 
uniform range can be secured, and it is easier to build to a given 
height than one of imagination. As the work proceeds, if the plants 
are too tall they can go farther behind, and if too short raising is 
much easier accomplished without the supports being so much seen. 
If wire supports are attached to the stakes the work of arranging 
easily will be much facilitated, as any particular flower can be more 
easily brought into the required position. The height of the front 
row of plants for a group of the size named should be about 2 feet 
6 inches or 3 feet, measuring from the ground ; and the back row 
of plants about 6 feet, sloping evenly from this point down to the 
front; and from the centre line from back to front the plants 
should slope a little down to the sides of the gr nip. This relieves 
the flatness otherwise caused by an even sloping bank from back to 
front. When quality has to be taken into consideration, as well as 
arrangement, the best means should be adopted of showing all the 
flowers on each plant. 
The more variety in shape and colours of the flowers in reason 
the better. A really representative group of Chrysanthemums 
should consist of Incurved, Japanese, Anemone, and Reflexed 
varieties. The colours should be carefully blended. Never place 
two plants of one colour, or nearly so, together ; decided colours, 
such as Cullingfordi and Elaine, go well together. Experience 
teaches this much better than any amount of written instructions, 
as perhaps the varieties which might be named in many instances 
are not available. The two varieties named will serve as an example. 
Some societies require special arrangements, such as all Incurved to 
comprise one group, and Japanese another ; but to my mind the 
four sections named are really necessary to make a thorough repre¬ 
sentative group of forms and colours combined. The number of 
Japanese plants would naturally predominate, as by their light and 
graceful forms they are particularly adapted to this kind of work. 
The Reflexed varieties would be the fewest in point of numbers, 
owing to their somewhat stiff appearance. The newer kinds of 
Anemone Japanese are specially suited to this purpose on account 
of the peculiar formation and arrangement of the florets of some 
of the varieties.—E. Molyneux. 
MASDEVALLIA POLYSTICTA. 
Though less showy than Masdevallias of the Harryana and Lindeni 
types, M. polysticta is worth a place in any collection, as it is one of the 
most floriferous of the small-flowered species. The sepals are lilac-tinted 
or nearly white, freely dotted with purple, the tails filiform and much 
darker than the other portion of the sepals. The flowers are borne in 
racemes of six to eight or more, as shown in the woodcut (fig. 68), which 
was prepared from specimens kindly furnished by F. A. Philbrick, Esq. 
Q.C., Bickley, where the plant is an especial favourite. The two lower 
sepals are usually slightly contracted in the centre and not so regularly 
ovate as in the figure. 
M. polysticta is a native of Northern Peru, and was introduced thence 
in 1874 by M. Roezl with M. melanopus and others. It succeeds well in 
a cool house with Odontoglossums. 
HORTICULTURAL SHOWS. 
The following are the dates of the principal Shows to be held during 
May and June this year. The Rose Shows are given in another column. 
The great event of the season will ho doubt be the provincial Show of the 
Royal Horticultural Society at Liverpool at the end of June. 
MAY. 
19th.—Royal Botanic Society, Regent’s Park, Summer Show. 
21st and 22nd.—Crystal Palace, Summer Show. 
2oth.—Royal Horticultural Society Committee meetings and Exhibition of 
Pot Roses, Azaleas, &c 
JUNE. 
8th.—Royal Horticultural Society Committee meetings ; Orchid Exhibi¬ 
tion. 
9th.—Royal Botanic Society second Summer Show. 
11th to 18th.—Manchester National Horticultural Exhibition, Old Traf- 
ford, 
22nd,—Royal Horticultural Society Committee meetings and Pelar¬ 
gonium Show. 
23(d and 25th.—York Floral Fete. 
29th to July 5th.—Royal Horticultural Society Provincial Show at 
Liverpool. 
30th.—Croydon Horticultural Show. 
30th.—Royal Botanic Society’s Evening Fete. 
VIOLETS. 
In many parts of the country Violets do not grow wild. Where they 
do the competition for the flowers is such that it is difficult"to got two or 
three. Very few people would think that they could have too many sweet 
Violets about their grounds if they could be had without interfering with 
the other flowers. Have such keen lovers of Violets observed that wild 
Violets inhabit hedgebanks, where they have shade from summer heat, 
and are protected in winter with snow ? Nothing else can do it so effec¬ 
tively, and it gathers soonest, and continues long in such places. 
Violets do best where they have to compete with other plants for soil, 
and where they cannot grow thick and rank, but have to creep about to 
look for a vacant spot amongst the shelter of taller vegetation. 
Every country garden has many as yet unappropriated places. 
Orchard banks, corners under deciduous trees, under hedges, such as 
Thorn, &c., besides screens of an evergreen description, such as Privet, 
Holly, icc.; alongside of Filbert bushes, behind walls where Nettles and 
other rank weeds grow, amongst shrubs, near rubbish heaps, in any waste 
ground that can be found in copse or woodland, are suitable places for 
Violets. Unsuitable are heaps of rubble, gravel, and rock ; hollows so 
wet as to be a morass or bog ; deserts beneath trees excluding light and 
rain ; and soil so pre-occupied with roots as to be dry as dust. Spring 
is the time to plant the Violets in the garden as soon as the flowering 
is over. Water until established, and keep them free from weeds. . Let 
as many runners grow as will. Mulch in autumn or early winter with a 
little leaf soil or other partially decayed material, and let things have 
their own way another year. Healthy, not gross plants, make the most 
of the soil and position in which they are placed. 
September, or as soon after as the ground selected is thoroughly moist, 
is the time to replant. Loosen the places with a fork to afford a free- 
