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News Letter 
May, 1951 
You still there? 
Will forego the temptation to make an acid 
remark about the state of the Union and will 
procede, instead, to the state of your African 
Violets. My goodness, the fixes some of you folks 
do get in!!! Harry has nothing on you. 
Q. they grow awhile and then just rot 
off at the dirt. Root leaves in water and plant 
them in sand and they rot off at the sand. Mrs. 
O.Y., N. Carolina. 
A. Too much watering. You have to get ’em 
pretty wet to make ’em do that way. Usually, 
with crown rot, the plants just get limp, flowers 
get smaller and smaller, and the plant finally 
just gives up the ghost. Remember that this is 
a damp time of year. Your plants won’t need as 
much water now as they might need in January, 
when the house is closed up and the heat on to 
dry everything out. 
Q. If I raise violet plants from seeds may I 
give them names to my liking? Mrs, H.E.F., 
Pennsylvania. 
A. With seven hundred (recent authoritative 
count) named varieties in existence, I can’t for 
the life of me see where another couple of dozen 
names would make much difference. Of course, 
this doesn’t imply that there are seven hundred 
different varieties. Only seven hundred names. 
Some collectors collect names. Some collectors 
collect varieties. There’s a difference. Makes 
good material for a first-class argument. 
t 
A. to’a recent Q. Someone said their violets 
were healthy but did not bloom. I had the same 
trouble. I used Plant Marvel fertilizer, and used 
REAL hot water and watered from the bottom. 
Now they are full of bloom and are beautiful. 
Mrs. M.N., Indiana. 
Dale, We started using butane gas for ee 
and cooking and blossoms immediately ee 
will they ever bloom again? Mrs. A.S he eee 
A. I’ve been told that butane doesn’t make 
any difference in violet blooming. In fact, I know 
of a very successful collector who heats with 
ae Do you suppose you have a leak some- 
where 
Q. Buds blast and blossoms all drop. off. Mrs. 
O.M., Kentucky. 
(Copyright, May, 1951, by Russell Gray) 
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