June 8, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
447 
and especially high culture, rendering plants, otherwise hardy, less so, 
cannot be too strongly impressed on the minds of Violet growers. 
Situation .—Although the Violet is naturally a shade-loving plant, it 
is culturally so enlarged in its parts that it requires full exposure to light 
and air for the solidification of the growth as made in order to obtain 
plenty of flowers in due season. The situation should be open, exposed 
to the sun from its rising to setting, but if there is the shelter of low 
shrubs or hedges so high as to break the force of winds from the south¬ 
west to south-east following the course of the sun, it will be an advantage. 
Walled gardens, and spaces enclosed by hedges, are eligible, only the plants 
are kept at such distance from the walls and fences as to be beyond reach 
of the hot and parching influence of the heat they reflect and radiate in 
hot weather, and are kept from the shade occasioned by the walls or 
hedges. The warmth of a south, and of an east and west border, is of 
great advantage in winter, and in spring in accelerating the flowering and 
in securing immunity from cold, but the cultivator must be prepared to 
supply moisture to plants so located corresponding to the increased 
necessity, or the result will be an enfeebled plant. A north border is, of 
course, the place to plant with a view of having Violets late, but even in 
this the danger is that the soil may become dry in the immediate vicinity 
of the wall or hedge, retarding the growth of the plants in summer so 
that the gathering flowers in late spring is most precarious and unsatis¬ 
factory. All things considered, a situation exposed to full sun and air is 
much the best for Violets. 
Soil .—Any kind of soil in good heart will grow Violets. The best is 
a good hazel or yellow loam, sufficiently porous as to allow of the free 
percolation of water through it. Wet soil is of no use for them until 
it is drained effifiently, and light soil is equally unsuitable until it is made 
cooler and more retentive of moisture. Heavy soil may be improved by 
an application of burnt clay, ashes, sand, and old mortar rubbish, soil 
from potting benches, rubbish heaps (woody matter should be charred), 
and road scrapings. The practice of throwing up clay soils in ridges, 
either to summer sun or winter frost, has a decidedly advantageous 
ameliorating effect, and turning it over on dry frosty mornings aids the 
process considerably. Light soils will be permanently improved by a good 
marling or dressing of clay, it being exposed to frost when it will fall on 
thawing, or baked in the sun it will fall with rain ; in any case it should 
be broken into as small particles as possible. A dressing of chalk is use¬ 
ful on light soils, and so is lime, especially in the case of soil of a peaty or 
alluvial nature, one bushel per rod (30£ square yards) being a proper 
dressing. As the tendency of all solid matter is to sink deeper in the soil 
the materials named should always be applied on the surface, and only 
mixed with the top spit of the ground by forking, any deep digging 
or trenching having previously been done. If trenching be necessary care 
should be taken not to bring up much of the stubborn pan to the surface, 
as it is poor and sterile, and of no use to Violets or any plant until it 
becomes ameliorated and enriched by atmospheric influences. It is better 
to break up the pan and leave it loose at the bottom of the trenching. 
Ground in good heart, having been well manured for previous crops, and 
those not being of an unusually exhaustive nature, will need very little, if 
indeed any manure. If poor, a good dressing of manure is essential, and 
it should be decayed, as fresh manure keeps the soil too open and induces 
a rank growth in the plants. The manure should not be buried deeply, 
but pointed in with a fork only. Ordinary soil will have all Violets need 
in a dressing of ordinary manure or leaf soil, merely pointed in prior to 
planting. They like a porous well-worked soil. 
Arranging the Ground for Plants .—For the large-growing kinds the 
ground is best disposed in ridges similar to Potatoes 18 inches apart, the 
ridge being rounded and about 4 inches high. The medium-growing 
sorts should have the ridges 15 inches apart and 3 inches high ; and lesser 
sorts 12 inches, with a ridge of a couple of inches high. The object of 
these ridges is to keep the plants well up to allow the leaves to fall away 
from the crowns and develope laterally, securing a maximum of value from 
light, air, and the free percolation of water through the soil, with the 
certainty of its being kept from the crown or centre. The effect on the 
plants is to secure strong central crowns and check the tendency to lose 
the centre and form a quantity of side issues, which never quite flowers at 
all comparable with plants having strong centres. By this arrangement 
of the plants they are readily available for weeding, removing runners, 
and mulching, and if wanted covered with frames three rows of those at 
18 inches distance will take a 4 feet C inches wide frame ; three rows of 
those at 15 inches will be covered by a frame 4 feet wide ; and four rows 
of those at 12 inches with a 4 feet wide frame, and to allow for facility of 
ventilating and gathering the flowers every fourth row of those at 
18 and 15 inches respectively will need be omitted in planting, and every 
fifth row of those plants at 12 inches distance between the rows. If the 
rows that would be needed vacant in winter, presuming the rows remain¬ 
ing were covered with frames, can be utilised for growing plants in 
summer to plant in frames or pits it will be an advantageous occupation 
of the ground until then ; but if the plants are not so required it will be 
a sheer waste of soil and labour to occupy the space with plants in 
summer that must be cleared off in autumn, and the spaces kept clear will 
much facilitate cultural operations. In the case of the plants not being 
intended to be covered with frames it will much assist the general routine 
work to leave out every fourth row of those at 18 inches and 15 inches, 
and every fifth row of those with the rows 12 inches apart. The distance of 
the plants in the rows should be respectively 15 inches, 12 inches, and 
9 inches, or 3 inches less than the rows are asunder. 
On wet soil it is advisable to form beds 4 feet wide, with 2 feet alleys 
between, the soil being taken out of the alleys C inches deep, and spread 
evenly over the beds. The ridges should be drawn across the beds 18, 15, 
and 12 inches apart, so as to accommodate the strong-growing plants at 
15 inches distance apart in the rows, and the end plants 9 inches from 
the sides of the bed, the medium growers 12 inches asunder, and the end 
plants 6 inches from the sides of the beds, and the small growers 9 inches 
apart in the rows, and the end plants 6 inches from the side of the bed, 
which will give three, four, and five plants in the rows respectively. This 
arrangement admits of cultural operations being expeditiously performed, 
and of covering with frames 4 feet wide if deemed advisable. The beds 
should have the ends north and south. 
Planting. — April or early May is the best time to plant. Select 
well-rooted runners or suckers of plants that have been grown outdoors. 
If they must be taken off plants that have been grown in frames the 
lights must have been off some time, so that the plants will be thoroughly 
hardened. Frame plants have their growth accelerated by the warmth 
the frames afford, and are to some extent debilitated so that they are not 
so good for outdoor plantings that are not to be so sheltered in future, as 
the plants have a tendency to complete their growth earlier and flower 
prematurely, which is not assuring of a full crop in spring. Hardy thinly 
grown plants afford the sturdiest and best rooted runners or suckers, and 
such only are advisable to yield a full supply of flowers in their proper 
season. Keep the plants as much as possible from the drying and in¬ 
jurious effects of the atmosphere, and plant with as little delay as pos¬ 
sible. Plant so that the—taking out soil sufficient wide and deep to allow 
of the roots being spread out—growing point or centre is just level with 
the soil, and press the soil well about the roots, the plants having a slight 
disk around them to hold water, of which a good supply should he given 
at once to settle the soil about the roots. A showery time is the best to 
make fresh plantations of Violets, as they sooner become established, and 
the necessity of watering is decreased. Watering must be attended to 
daily if the weather be dry, and some pea sticks laid over the plants so as 
to break the fierce rays of powerful sun will materially assist the estab¬ 
lishment of the plants. Some evergreen branches or tiffany shading will 
be a more effectual screen from sun, but such if employed must be re¬ 
moved at night so as to afford the plants the benefit of dew. If the 
weather be dull and the plants in proper condition shading will not be 
necessary, and getting them established without it is all the better. 
Cultural Requirements .—Keep the plants free from weeds, which is 
best effected by stirring the soil frequently with a hoe, that not only 
keeps weeds effectually under, but a loose surface admits of the free 
absorption of moisture, and of the rapid passage of rain carrying air with 
it, and this is one of the greatest aids of rendering food available, and 
consequently its assimilation by the plants. Allowing weeds to get 
ahead until their removal by hand becomes a necessity causes increase 
of labour, depriving the plants of light, air, and moisture. Every weed 
robs the crop in many ways, and yet weeds are allowed to get tall and 
strong before the cultivator takes measures to eradicate them. The 
weeds have, then, taken more nutriment from the soil than the legitimate 
plants, and the latter have less food available for their use. They show 
this in the crop, for as the plant is nourished so is the resulting produce. 
Weedy plants are weak and drawn, cleanly plants are sturdy and well 
favoured; barrenness is the characteristic of one, floriferousness of the 
other. 
Firming the Soil .—In four to six weeks the plants will have taken 
freely to the soil, having made some growth, and a good amount of roots. 
By the middle of June the soil, if properly attended to in hoeing, will be 
clean and loose, full of air and solar heat, and the plants growing freely. 
The plants must be kept in steady progressive growth, and this is best 
effected by firming the soil well about them, and thus giving greater 
resistance to the passage of the roots through the soil will multiply them. 
The ground should be dry at the surface when the soil is firmed. Press 
the soil with the feet, going all round the plants, and as near the neck as 
possible without injuring the leaves or collar. The whole of the ground 
should be well firmed, and this is an absolute necessity on light soil, and 
advisable on all, only heavy soil will be close enough of itself, though if 
clotty a good treading will be of benefit.— Viola. 
(To bo continued.) 
PLANTS AND THEIR DEFENCES. 
A CONSTANT struggle for existence, the consequence of the enormous 
increase in the numbers of the individuals of almost every species, is the 
fate of nearly every organism, both animal and vegetable. Some have to 
sustain the attacks of others which are directly antagonistic to them, and 
which regard them as prey ; in the case of others the struggle is rather 
one to live in the face of adverse conditions or peculiarities of environment, 
so that the different organisms are not directly hostile, but each affects its 
neighbour injuriously by adapting itself more readily to the changing 
surroundings, and so diminishing the other’s power of obtaining nutri¬ 
ment, sunlight, or whatever other condition may be the object of their 
competition. Thus have been developed in the different competitors 
different features of their constitution—many perfecting powers of active 
assault, others facilities for active or passive defence. The last named is 
particularly the feature found in the vegetable kingdom. The want of 
locomotion prevents any aggressive movement of the individual, and 
hence success in the struggle can only be secured by more complete 
adaptation to environment than its competitors can show, or by protec¬ 
tive mechanisms guarding the individual from the assaults of organisms 
inclined to prey upon it. These mechanisms exhibit very great variety, 
and their object often seems obscure till they are looked at in the light of 
the environment of the plant, the conditions of its life, and the enemies 
against which it has to contend. The specially exposed points of attack 
