In course of time the lovely ENGLISH, MARCH, or SWEET VIOLET, (V.
odorata), which has escaped from gardens, and which is now
rapidly increasing with the help of seed and runners on the
Atlantic and the Pacific coasts, may be established among our
wild flowers. No blossom figures so prominently in European
literature. In France, it has even entered the political field
since Napoleon's day. Yale University has adopted the violet for
its own especial flower, although it is the corn-flower, or
bachelor's button (Centaurea cyanus) that is the true Yale blue.
Sprengel, who made a most elaborate study of the violet,
condensed the result of his research into the following questions
and answers, which are given here because much that he says
applies to our own native species, which have been too little
studied in the modern scientific spirit:

"1. Why is the flower situated on a long stalk which is upright,
but curved downwards at the free end? In order that it may hang
down; which, firstly, prevents rain from obtaining access to the
nectar; and, secondly, places the stamens in such a position that
the pollen falls into the open space between the pistil and the
free ends of the stamens. If the flower were upright, the pollen
would fall into the space between the base of the stamen and the
base of the pistil, and would not come in contact with the bee.

"2. Why does the pollen differ from that of most other
insect-fertilized flowers? In most of such flowers the insects
themselves remove the pollen from the anthers, and it is
therefore important that the pollen should not easily be detached
and carried away by the wind. In the present case, on the
contrary, it is desirable that it should be looser and dryer, so