Violets.
Violets will make no show in your garden, but if you have room you will wish to have some of your own to gather. You must put out of your head some of the things the poets say about them, and remember that they like a rich soil, the sun in early spring, some shelter, and plenty of light and fresh air. We have seen them belying all the pretty traditions about their modest and retiring ways. They were scrambling in sheets over the granite walls of a Cornish garden, and, so far from hiding, they were showing their pretty faces to the sun, and saying as plain as plain, ‘This is what we like. Don’t stuff us into shady dells and enclosed, sunless places.’ So now we put them where they will have rich soil, sun and air, and the moisture they require. A south border would be too dry for them in summer, but they will stand a good deal of sunshine if their roots are in rich soil. You must watch for their runners, and cut them off all through the summer, but later in the year you should leave some for stock. In May or June you can increase your Violets—either by taking up your plants and pulling them carefully to pieces, when every bit with roots will grow; or you can put some runners under a hand-light in a shady border. If you cut off their tips, you will be able to see when they have struck and begin to grow, and then you must tilt your hand-light a little, so as to give ventilation. After a short time you can take it away altogether, and by September your cuttings should be ready to plant out. The rows should be one foot apart. The plants will soon spread, and should be kept well weeded. All gardeners advise you to make a fresh bed every two years. There are many beautiful varieties. In a Cornish garden we have known the fine double kind, Marie Louise, bloom incessantly from August, through the winter and spring, till the hot weather came again; but this variety would need a frame in a cold climate.