THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 267 



rich soil, and if with that it is li?T;ht and free, so much the better. 

 If the soil is very heavy it had better be made light by the ad- 

 mixture of road sand, leaf-mould, and other matters which may be 

 convenient before planting ; if light, it must be well-deepened and 

 enriched with rotten manure, and stiffish loam, if convenient ; but, 

 no matter what the soil may be, the secret of cultivating these" 

 clematises is to give them a few inches of well-rotted manure, on 

 the surface of the earth all round where the roots are, or, in other 

 words, to " mulch " them. If the appearance of the manure is 

 objected to, as it may be by many, it may be covered with an inch 

 of soil, and on that some annual, like the aster, may be grown for 

 the summer months. As regards training, they are best left alone 

 in summer, at least till the shoots get very long indeed ; but during 

 the winter months they must be firmly tied or nailed over whatever 

 surfiice they occupy, as the weight of iiowers is considerable where 

 they are properly grown, and by having the main, shoots firmly 

 secured, the rich mass of blooms, many of them as large and 

 larger than tea-saucers, may be allowed to hang down in a graceful 

 and natural manner, which much increases the beauty of the plants 

 and whatever position they adorn. 



It is almost useless to enumerate any special kinds among those 

 new hybrids and varieties sent out by Messrs. Jackman, as all are 

 good, and it is only necessary to pick out the most diverse, and 

 in many gardens where climbers are much valued, all the varieties 

 will be acceptable. "Within twenty yards of the spot where I 

 write this there is a splendid plant of Jackmannii, every shoot 

 suspending a range of noble rich violet flowers, and several dozen 

 other kinds, large and small, and all nearly equally beautiful and 

 equally appreciated. The small kinds like Viorna, with its pale pink 

 flowers ; Shillingii, with its very delicate ones ; Tlammula, with its 

 mass of fragrant spray covers arclies beautifully, and looks efi:ective 

 in the mass ; while here and there the splendid single flowers of such 

 kinds as Eubro violacea, catch the eyes of many who hardly ever 

 notice a flower. Those who plant clematises should never by any 

 chance omit the beautiful large-flowered variety of Clematis montana, 

 usually called 0. montana graudiflora, as its beauty in the early 

 part of the year, before any of the other kinds expand, is unsur- 

 passed by that of any other hardy or tender climber. 



Haeold Stevens. 



THE PANSY. 



BY WILLIAM THOMPSOK. 



HERE are few flowers which exhibit so forcibly the 

 extraordinary improvement which may be eflected in 

 form, size, and colour, by diligent cultivation and 

 hybridizing, as the Pansy. It w;is introduced to the 

 region of fancy flowers by Lady Monck, in lNl2, and 

 since that date what an immense number of superb varieties have 



