608 Handbook of Nature-Study 



As the pansy matures, the little man grows still more manlike ; after a 

 time he sheds his anther cape, and we can see that his body is the ribbed 

 seed-pod. He did not eat pollen for nothing, for he is full of growing 

 seeds. Sometimes the plush brushes, which are above his head in the 

 pansy flower, become filled with pollen, and perhaps he gets a mouthful of 

 it, although these brushes are supposed to keep out intruders. 



The pansy sepals, five in number, are fastened at about one-third of 

 their length, their heart-shaped bases making a little green ruffle around 

 the stem where it joins the flower. There is one sepal above and two at 

 each side, but none below the nectar-spur. The flower stem is quite short 

 and always bends politely so the pansy can look sidewise at us instead of 

 staring straight upward. The plant stem is angled and crooked and stout. 

 In form, the leaves are most capricious; some are long and pointed, 

 others wide and rounded. The edges are slightly scalloped and the leaf 

 may have at its base a pair of large, deeply lobed stipules. In a whole 

 pansy bed it would be quite impossible to find two leaves just alike. 



The pansy ripens many seeds. The ribbed seed-capsule, with its base 

 set comfortably in the faithful sepals, finally opens in three valves and the 

 many seeds are scattered. To send them as far afield as possible, the 

 edges of each valve of the pod curl inward, and snap the seeds out as boys 

 snap apple seeds from the thumb and finger. 



Pansies like deep, rich and cool, moist soil. They are best suited to a 

 northern climate, and prefer the shady side of a garden to the full sunshine. 

 The choice varieties are perpetuated through cuttings. They may be 

 stuck in the open ground in summer in a half-shady place and should be 

 well-watered in dry weather. All sorts of pansies are readily raised from 

 seed sown in spring or early summer, and seedlings, when well established, 

 do not suffer, as a rule, from winter frosts. 



The general sowing for the production of early spring bloom is made 

 out of doors in August, while seeds sown indoors from February to June 

 will produce plants to flower intermittently during the late summer and 

 fall months. When sowing pansy seed in August, sow the seed broadcast 

 in a seed-bed out of doors, cover very lightly with fine soil or well-rotted 

 manure, and press the seed in with a small board; then mulch the seed- 

 bed with long, strawy horse manure, from which the small particles have 

 been shaken off, to the thickness of one inch, so as to have the soil well and 

 evenly covered. At the end of two weeks the plants will be up. Then 

 remove the straw gradually, a little at a time, selecting a dull day if possi- 

 ble. Keep the bed moist. 



If the pansies are allowed to ripen seeds the season of bloom will be 

 short, for when its seeds are scattered the object of the plant's life is 

 accomplished. Besides, the plant has not vitality enough to perfect seeds 

 and continue its bloom, and flowers borne with the forming seeds are 

 smaller than the earlier ones. But if the flowers are kept plucked as they 

 open, the plants persistently put forth new buds. The plucked flowers 

 will remain in good condition longer if picked in the early morning before 

 the bees begin paying calls, for a fertilized flower fades more quickly than 

 one which has received no pollen. 



