
News Letter 

February, 1950 
Hello there! 
Let’s talk about growing Violets in water. Many 
Violet collectors are plagued needlessly with the 
problems involving soil: where to get it, sterili- 
zation, correct mixtures, to say nothing of the 
insects and fungi which breed therein. Soil-less 
culture is a boon particularly to those city and 
apartment-dwellers to whom the source of plain 
old dirt is a never-ending headache, and also to 
collectors whose jobs limit the time which may 
be spent on their collections. 
Many people have written asking how to pro- 
ceed with this type of culture. Perhaps a few 
suggestions here would be timely. 
Plain old water will grow a right nice plant, 
but better results will be obtained if nutrients 
are added. If such chemicals as sulphate of 
ammonia, nitrates, and super-phosphate are avail- 
able it might be interesting for the collec- 
tor to “mix his own.” Those who retain un- 
pleasant memories of schoolday chemistry labs, 
however, will want to use a prepared commercial 
product such as Hyponex. The formula for water 
or sand culture will be given on the package. 
Any container will do so long as it is not made 
of metal. All types of bowls, ornamental cups, 
pitchers, low vases, compotes, jardinieres, and so 
on may be used. Don’t worry too much about get- 
ting one big enough. You will find that enour- 
mous plants may be grown with the root system 
confined to a tiny space. 
Your plants may be grown in solution alone, or 
you may wish to support the roots with such inert 
matter as sand or vermiculite. Proceed thus for 
solution alone: . 
I. Let’s suppose you have an old beat-up Blue 
Boy you don‘t mind experimenting with on your 

