1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



247 



Literature, Travels i Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



PANSY PORTRATURE OR HEARTSEASE 

 PICTURES. 



BY AVM. T. HARDING, UPPER SANDUSKY, OHIO. 



Poor Jeremiah Crocus ! was in trouble no 

 •doubt. He looked sorely distressed and woe 

 begone ! His heart was aching, if not breaking ! 

 •overwhelmed with misery ; his soul was in 

 :agony, intense ! Deep and audible were the 

 ■sighs, forced through his compressed lips, as he 

 paced to and fro, by the side of a Heartsease 

 Tjorder. Heartsease ! forsooth, what a cruel 

 ;misnomer. Hearts-agony ! was the name. The 

 lachrymal floodgates were full to overflowing. 

 jBig tears glistened in the corners of his swollen 

 •eyes, ready to start on fluvial pilgrimages, down 

 liis elongated, and grief-stricken features. Prob- 

 :ably, from a natural proneness towards the soil 

 he delved in, his form was downward bent. He 

 ■seemed sad and dejected, as now and anon, 

 (he cast a melancholy glance towards the Pansy 

 l)ed. And well he might ; for there lay the 

 •cause of his disquietude and sorrow. The grim 

 Ttyrant, while remorselessly hurling his death- 

 •dealing missiles, had stricken a beloved one; 

 and the pride of the garden, lay dead, by his 

 side ! " Well a day! well a day! woe is me, 

 for I am undone! Blast the guano! rank poison, 

 it is!" exclaimed Crocus; in tones more 

 iin sorrow, than in anger, "Friend Crocus, 

 what ails thee ? good man ; why mingle thy 

 ■grief with profanity'? Such language, is most 

 grievous to hear; and ill becomes thee, an old 

 Gardener." Thus, spoke Friend Obadiah Bland, 

 'from behind a holly hedge ; where he had un- 

 wontedly listened to the lamentations of Jere- 

 miah. " Dead, dead as' a door nail !" replied 

 the miserable man, in tones dolorous. "Who 

 lis dead?" quoth the man in drab ; " I pray thee, 

 imake known thy distress.''' Alas I replied the un- 

 happy Crocus, "Captain Cook, is dead and gone! 

 ■atid I shall never, never see his pleasant face 

 again'" Said Obadiah: — "Verily, I fear, 

 though thine heart be right, thy reason is wrong. 

 'Captain Cook, dead ! tliou sayest. Why poor 

 unhappy man ! he having ventured far from his 

 home, was unkindly cut 'off"; long ago. The 

 wicked cannibals, on some heathen isle, unjustly 

 slew him with a spear ; yea, Tailed, and eat him ! 

 iin a very savage, and uuhecoming maimer, 



years gone by." " Pooh !" exclaimed Jeremiah* 

 "nothing of the kind, I do assure you ! He was 

 poisoned with a strong dose of guano ! That, 

 did the job, for him; yesterday!" Meaning a 

 favorite Pansy of that name, which had been 

 too liberally treated with the new-fangled stuff. 



This misadventure occurred soon after the 

 newly discovered Peruvian guano found a 

 market in Great Britain. The merits of the 

 marvelous manure were but then imperfectly 

 known, and often led to mistakes of a mis- 

 chievous nature when applying it. 



The writer remembers the time when pigmy 

 Pansies were highly prized and much admired. 

 Yes, pansies but little better than the diminu- 

 tive Viola tricolor, and V. arvensis, growing wild 

 in the woods and fields. They were funny little 

 flowers indeed. Although considered very 

 pretty then, they sadly lacked the form and sub- 

 stance of this day's beauties. Perhaps no 

 flowers have improved more than they. But a 

 few years ago, yellow colors chiefly predomi- 

 nated among them. Their lean, pinched up 

 features, looked starved ; not much like the 

 round well-fed comely ones we see now-a-days. 

 Two curious kinds, knowai as Mr. T. Cat, and 

 Mrs. Mouser, much resembled feline faces ; 

 hence the name. The long upper petals stood 

 apart, as like cats ears as they could be, and 

 with eye marks, and pencilled smellers, bore a 

 remarkable likeness to grimalkin's countenance 

 when In a meditative mood. 



George the Second had a miserable look 

 in his jaundiced face, while the Chimney Sweep 

 was more renowned for black looks than other- 

 wise. The Merry Monarch seemed to have a 

 twinkle in his eye, as he smiled at pretty Nell 

 Gwyn, one of the fairest-faced beauties of the 

 day. Now Venus had a perfect form, and 

 lovely face, slightly flushed; and so had Fair 

 Rosamond, whose lower lip seemed as if pout- 

 ing for a kiss. Cinderella's glassy face shone 

 brighter than her slippers. Guy Fawkes, the 

 gunpowder plot man, had a rather undecided 

 phiz, as if smeared with soot and sulphur. Poor 

 Cranmer! looked singed, and sad; while Bonny 

 Lad, was sweet and fair. The Charcoal-burner, 

 was smoky. Golden Fleece, although very 

 bright, was neither woolly nor metallic. Canary 

 Bird had plenty of color, but no song ; never 

 warbled a note. White Friar, was as white as 



