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GROWma PANSIES IN POTS. 



BY J. JAMES, 

 Head Gardener to W. F. Watson, Esq., Eedlees, Isleworth. 



|HIS beautiful flower is so easy to grow in pots that I 

 cannot help wondering why more of oar amateurs do 

 not take them in hand. Without doubt they would be 

 rewarded with a delightful display of floral beauty in 

 the spring. The pansy is not only superior in point of 

 beauty to many plants that are more popular ; but far less trouble 

 is necessary in preserving it through the winter, if a cold frame is 

 the only structure the amateur has to keep his plants in. I will 

 detail my way of dealing with these plants, and by which I have 

 been very successful in growing them, and I feel assured that, if the 

 rules that I shall lay down are strictly observed, it will be the 

 grower's own fault if he does not succeed to his satisfaction.. The 

 first thing to be thought about is getting a stock of the best varieties. 

 I will add a list of some of the best of my stock, as a guide to the 

 beginner in these matters. As I said before, the first thing to be 

 thought about is getting a stock ; there are several ways of manag- 

 ing this. The proper way is to take as much money in your hand 

 as you can afi'ord, and go to a respectable nurseryman, and either 

 leave the selection in his hands, or hand in the list which will be 

 found at the foot of these remarks. Tor my own part, if I did not 

 want any particular kind, I would sooner leave the selection in the 

 bands of the nurseryman ; generally speaking, plants of every de- 

 scription can be bought much cheaper this way than by picking 

 them out by the purchaser. It often happens that when a certain 

 list is sent in, several of the varieties named therein may be sold 

 out, or a failure may have happened in propagating them ; the con- 

 sequence of this is the nurseryman has to go to an immense amount 

 of trouble and expense to make up the list, and consequently is unable 

 to make any reduction from the catalogue price. Nine or twelve 

 shillings per dozen will purchase a good selection at a nursery in 

 which they are made a speciality. Another good way — good because 

 cheap — is to go to a friend and beg a few cuttings of the best of 

 his stock. 



Supposing the latter method is adopted, I will say a few words 

 upon this branch of the subject. Besides, it is desirable to know 

 bow to propagate these plants, for it will be necessary to strike a 

 fresh stock every year, for the young plants are more vigorous, and 

 the flowers are finer than those from old plants. It is getting rather 

 late to strike plants intended for pots to bloom next spring; but if 

 no time is lost, good plants can be grown even now. As a rule, it 

 is best to begin some time in June, and have the whole of the cuttings 

 by the end of that month. I shall suppose that you have a cold 

 frame, or a hand-light that can be spared. Well, make a bed about 

 nine inches in thickness in either of these, for the purpose of receiv- 

 ing the cuttings. It should be composed of about an equal pro- 

 portion of fibrous loam and leaf-mould, and a good sprinkling of sand 



