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For a dozen choice varieties choose Surprise, Lord Campbell, Vulcain, Pluton, Celine, Ophir, La Quintanie, Raphael, Rembrandt, Isoline, Jeanne d'Arc, Princess Clothilde, and Count de Morny. For the same number of cheaper sorts: Penelope, Goliah, Aristotle, Empress, Janire, Nemesis, Hebe, Fanny Rouget, Sulphureus, Archimedes, Vesta, Don Juan.

The following should be in every collection, however small: Count de Morny, La Poussin, Brenchleyensis, Vesta, Penelope, Hebe, Pluton, Calypso, Vulcain, Madame de Vatry.

New varieties are yearly produced, and there are many promising American seedlings.

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VIOLETS.-POLYANTHUS.-DAISIES. - PANSIES.-LILY OF THE VALLEY. - - HEPATICA.-FLOWERING SHRUBS.

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REAT pleasure may be experienced in forcing plants to bloom in winter, though it is one of the most difficult departments of Horticulture in which to achieve success. There are many

flowers which resist all attempts,

while others do but poorly, and others again well repay the care required.

THE VIOLET.

This little spring flower, always a favorite, from its grace and delicate fragrance, can be bloomed successfully during the winter months, and this with but little expense.

Let the season be the last of August; procure a frame of rough plank, about four feet long by three wide, and sloping from one foot to eighteen inches in height. On each side, from top to bottom, nail two narrow strips of wood, letting them stand about an inch above the top of the frame. Fit on to the frame, so as to slide between the strips, a glass sash; the cost of the whole will be about three dollars. If our violets have been properly divided in the spring, and planted out in a rich, loamy, damp spot, we

have now plenty of plants, each about six inches in diameter. If we do not have them, they can be obtained of any florist for about a dollar a dozen.

Prepare a bed the size of your frame, of rich, decomposed manure and leaf mould, and plant the violets in clumps, as many as the bed will hold, about six inches between each clump. This bed may be below the surface of the surrounding soil, or on a level. Allow the plants to grow in the bed thus prepared until about the first of November, when the nights get frosty; then put your frame over the bed; fill in over the plants with dry leaves, and put on the sash. The bed should be in a place where no standing water will settle in winter; and, in the preparation, if the soil be naturally wet, it may be better to fill in a few inches of the bottom with small stones, to secure drainage. The earth should be banked up around the frame before the ground freezes, as thus the inside of the bed will be warmer. Care should be taken that the frame is tight and well banked, or you may have provided a winter domicil for field mice, to the destruction of your violets. About a week before the violets are wanted, open the frame, remove the leaves, and expose the plants to full light. The bed should face the south that

is, the inclination of the frame should be in that

direction.

Have some straw mats, board shutters, or other warm covering (the mats are the best), with which to cover the frame at night, and on cold, stormy days.

This mat should be removed on pleasant days, unless very cold-for the more light the better flowers —and on warm, cloudy days. Guard against frost, and on very cold days the beds should not be uncovered; it is necessary to preserve the heat as much as possible, as our only reliance is on that obtained from the sun.

The violets, in planting, should be about four inches from the glass; if the beds are deeper, your bloom will not be so early, though the flowers, by being drawn, will have longer stems.

With good weather, the flowers will begin to open from three days to a week after being uncovered. Every sunny day they will come forward wonderfully, and with a few frames, there need not be a day, from January to May, when you cannot gather a bunch of violets. The plants will require but little water, unless the earth becomes dried by the heat of the sun; if kept too wet, the plants will mould and rot. When the spring opens, and the plants have done

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