May 3, 1890= 
THE GARDENING WORLD- 
555 
SWEET FRAME VIOLETS. 
A SIMPLE AND EXPEDITIOUS SYSTEM OF GROWING THEM. 
Of the many items that make up the list of cut flowers 
which the gardener is called upon to produce annually, 
and to keep up a supply of each in its respective season, 
there is, perhaps, not in the whole list another flower 
which is so universally appreciated, and so ever welcome 
as the sweet Violet; indeed, it is such a general 
favourite with most ladies for its delicious perfume, that 
the supplies of it can hardly, if ever, be overdone, 
nor the gardener be told he is producing them to 
satiety. 
Most gardeners, in both large and small establishments, 
have to provide supplies of this fragrant little flower, 
either in large or small quantities, according to demand 
and the conveniences at command. To keep up a 
supply of the more tender and double kinds, to which 
our present remarks will be chiefly confined, frames are 
necessary to ensure success. 
As the present period to the end of the month will be a 
good time to set about making new plantations for next 
winter and spring supply, I offer a few remarks on 
their cultivation, and detail the system we have 
adopted with much success for several years—a system 
that gives us constant supplies from November to May, 
with the least possible outlay in labour ; and to those 
of your readers who, like ourselves, may not be over¬ 
burdened with hands, I can thoroughly recommend it 
as a labour-saving one, yet at the same time giving 
them full returns. 
To the gardener who is in the happy position of 
being in charge of a well-appointed garden, both as 
regards labour and material, there can be no difficulty 
in keeping up a supply of Violets from early autumn to 
late spring. All gardeners, howevgr, are not in the 
fortunate position of having a staff that equals a man 
to an acre (which all good practical authorities consider 
to be necessary if all the departments of the garden 
are to receive due attention and the best results secured 
from each), nor are they so well appointed in other 
respects, therefore economy in labour as well as in 
material is of necessity the Alpha and Omega of their 
management. A maximum of profits with a minimum 
of outlay is a familiar phrase in business circles ; and 
the motto that very many gardeners are yearly becoming 
too painfully familiar with, more so, perhaps, in large 
than small establishments, is howto secure “a maxi¬ 
mum of returns with the least possible expenditure of 
labour,” hence the gardener who can achieve much 
success with little means, is entitled to have placed to 
his credit account of management more than the 
gardener who achieves only the same results with 
abundance of labour and material at his command. 
Personally our position has always been the same, and 
our staff instead of equalling a man to an acre, approxi¬ 
mates more nearly to that of three acres to a man ; we 
have therefore to be always on the alert to guard 
against making two labours of one job where one labour 
will serve the purpose, and at the same time secure to 
us the full returns desired. 
Being called upon to keep up a supply of the double 
or frame Violets is a case in point. For two seasons 
we followed the usual and common practice of growing 
the plants in the open borders through the summer, 
and then lifting them in the autumn and replanting 
in frames on slightly prepared hot-beds, or spent Melon 
or Cucumber beds. This system, though it gave us a 
fair and constant supply of flowers, did not recommend 
itself to our mind as being the most economical for our 
position, as it entailed upon us the extra labour of 
preparing the border for the plants, and the lifting and 
replanting of them into frames in the autumn, all of 
which labour we thought might well be dispensed with 
by growing the plants in some permanent position 
where they could be left to bloom. 
Independently of this, we always found that plants 
placed on spent hot-beds, or on beds specially prepared 
for them, did not give such constant and lasting 
gatherings of flowers as could be desired, as, after the 
first flush of bloom, the plants were always inclined to 
make more leaves than flowers, the new soil and slight 
bottom heat being the encouraging cause of this 
excessive leaf growth ; the flowers, too, were always 
lacking that full and delicious scent possessed by flowers 
picked from cold frames, and not assisted by any 
artificial heat whatever, and we had constant complaints 
of the flowers so soon losing what little scent they had. 
The fact is, the Violet will not stand much artificial 
forcing, a little too much bottom or top heat being 
detrimental to its giving its full measure of sweet 
perfume. 
It happened one season that we had more plants 
than we could find frames for, and having a couple 
of old lights, we simply enclosed the surplus plants, 
where they grew on the open border, with four rough 
planks kept together by stakes driven into the ground 
on either side of them, and on these we rested the 
lights, and placed a lining of 6 ins. of dry litter round 
the planks to keep out the frost. The winter not 
being a very severe one, we gathered from this impro¬ 
vised two-light, cold frame more flowers, and lasting 
over a longer period, than we did from two two-light 
frames on spent hot-beds ; and what was more grati¬ 
fying to us, we were being constantly asked what we 
had done to the flowers to give them such a delicious 
and powerful scent. This determined us, and from the 
success of this happy accident we took our cue, and 
made our move accordingly.' Briefly, we determined 
to abandon the old and prevalent practice of growing 
frame Violets in the open borders through the summer, 
afterwards transferring the plants to frames on 
spent hot-beds to bloom them, and to adopt the more 
natural system of growing and flowering the plants in 
the one and same position without the intermediary of 
liot-beds whatever, whilst at the same time doing 
away with the extra labour attendant on the old 
system. 
Mindful of the fact that it is through the dullest 
months of the year that frame Violets are wanted, a 
position was chosen for the permanent pits that would 
at once be open to and command as much of the sun’s 
rays as possible from November to March, and yet be 
fully sheltered from all the cold winds. This settled, 
the ground was marked out suitably to the width and 
length of some old top lights of vineries, which at the 
time were being replaced by a range of new houses ; 
that is to say, the ground was staked out for two pits, 
each 25 ft. loDg by 5 ft. wide, inside measure, and 
outside these measurements a turf wall was built, 1 ft. 
high at the back, and 6 ins. in front, and 1 ft. thick, 
and these tuif walls again lined inside with three- 
quarter rough deal boards, the bottom edge resting on 
bricks, so as to raise the top edge 1 in. higher than the 
turf wall all round. This lining of boards serves as 
the framework on which to rest the lights, and the 
turf walls are for the purpose of keeping out the frost, 
which they do most effectually, the severest frost never 
penetrating far into the dry solid sides. These pits 
have now been made ten years, and this is the first 
year that any repairs to the wood lining and turf walls 
have been needed, and as they were put together by a 
handy garden labourer, it can be said that they are 
the cheapest pits for the purpose, where turf can be had, 
that can be built. 
Frame Violets are not very fastidious as to soil, 
provided it is not too close and heavy in character— 
a light loam with the addition of leaf-soil, or thoroughly 
rotted manure, and sufficient road grit to keep the 
whole porous is, perhaps, the best. The composition 
we use is six barrow-loads of light turfy loam to one 
each of road grit and leaf-soil, with a little charred 
refuse added, the whole being well mixed. The pits 
are filled with this mixture to within 6 ins. of the 
glass, and is well incorporated to the depth of 14 ins. 
with the old soil, and is then fairly compressed down 
ready for dibbling in the plants. 
If plentiful gatherings of fine flowers are desired, two 
points in the culture of frame Violets must not be lost 
sight of, namely, new plantations must be made every 
year, the youngest rooted pieces from the sides of 
the old plants, or, better, the rooted runners being 
chosen, and dibbled in early, so that the plants may 
have plenty of time to grow to a good size, and to 
bristle with well-ripened crown buds by the middle 
or end of October. On this process of well ripening 
of the buds hinges a good deal of the success of a 
plentiful supply of flowers. If this be secured, the 
plants will continue to bloom more or less plentifully 
all through the winter, of course the more so when the 
weather is of the mildest. Frosts, as a matter of course, 
must be kept out of the pits by applying sufficient 
coverings in very severe weather.— J. Kipling, 
Knebworth. 
(To be continued.) 
-- 
Narcissus, George Engleheart. — This is a 
hybrid between Narcissus Tazetta Bazelman major 
and N. poeticus. The flower scape bore three 
blooms, nearly or quite as large as N. poeticus, 
with the broad, obovate, white segments of the latter, 
and a yellow cup with an orange-scarlet rim. It was 
exhibited at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society by the Rev. G. H. Engleheart, who received an 
Award of Merit for it. 
ISCELLA.NY. 
--J-- 
A Giant Birthwort. 
Aristolochia Goldieana does not flower frequently 
nor very freely, but makes amends by the huge size of 
the bloom. The whole length of the flower exceeds 
2 ft., and measures nearly 1 ft. across the expanded 
lamina. The lower portion is tubular, expanding 
upwards into a thickened and bent, club-shaped process, 
above which is the huge, triangular, and deeply con¬ 
cave lamina, the interior of which is of a deep brown, 
closely and copiously reticulated with yellow veins. 
The whole may be compared to the more common 
A. Sipho on a gigantic scale, but the lower and tubular 
portion is differently constructed. As the latter is 
known as the Dutchman’s Pipe, so this may be com¬ 
pared to a pipe of greatly magnified dimensions. The 
large throat-like opening from the tube into the bowl 
of the pipe is greatly intensified in colour, and very 
peculiar. Although a climber, it is of an herbaceous 
nature, dies down almost to the pot annually, and 
requires careful treatment to preserve it till growth 
again commences. It might have been seen a short 
time ago in the Victoria House at Hew, where it proved 
an object of great curiosity, but did not last long in 
perfection. 
Amherstia nobilis. 
In a state of nature, this tree attains a height of 30 ft. 
or 40 ft., and although it may be flowered in a much 
smaller state, accommodation can only be granted it in a 
few establishments in this country, as it requires stove 
treatment. The flowers are not very durable, lasting 
only a few days in perfection, but they present a 
magnificent spectacle during the time they remain on 
the tree. They are produced on long, pendulous 
racemes from the axils of the leaves, and their beauty 
is heightened by the presence of two large, ovate, 
scarlet bracteoles produced on the pedicels a short 
distance beneath the flower. The pedicels are also of a 
similar bright colour. There are four sepals, origin¬ 
ally five, but the two upper ones are connate into one 
piece, and all highly coloured. Of the five petals, two 
of them are very small, having been reduced in size to 
give free play to the lower bundle of stamens, which is 
greatly deflexed. The wing petals are of great length, 
and scarlet, with bright yellow tips. The upper petal 
or standard is scarlet, striped with a darker colour, 
with a large golden yellow blotch at the apex, beneath 
which is a purple one, giving the whole an oculated 
appearance. A large specimen has been flowering for 
some time in the Aroid house, near the main entrance 
of the gardens at Kew. 
Broccoli, April Queen. 
We received the other day a fine head of Hartland s 
April Queen Broccoli, which was grown in the South 
of Ireland and sent to us by Messrs. Hurst & Son. 
The head was a large one, very solid, heavy, 
and measured about 9 ins. in diameter, and about 
41 ins. in depth. The leaves are of a deep 
glaucous green with white ribs, and a great number of 
them are developed below the head, and arching over 
the latter so completely cover it, that it remains of a 
milk-white till fit for use. This large development of 
leaves would also protect the head from injury by frost, 
a matter of no small importance, seeing how frequently 
Broccoli gets injured'in this country during severe 
winters. In the South of Ireland this would be a 
matter of less importance, seeing that the winters are 
usually very mild. The chief consequence of the great 
development of foliage in such a case would be the 
preservation of the purity of colour, a matter of great 
importance when the produce is brought to the table. 
Protecting Gooseberry Busbes from 
Sparrows. 
I have read your work on “Our Hardy Fruits,” and 
think it a most useful publication. It has occurred 
to me that you might be interested to know that 
Gooseberry bushes may be protected perfectly from 
sparrows in early spring by drawing a cotton thread 
from tip to tip of the branches on the most prominent 
parts of the bushes. In former years I was greatly 
annoyed, the buds being completely stripped from the 
young shoots, but after threading the bushes in the 
autumn as described, I find that now there is not a bud 
missing.— Wvi. Clapliain , North of England HorticuT 
tural Works, Darlington. 
