CULTURE OF THE PANSY. 



261 



sist our floricultural readers, we lay before 

 them an excellent article from the London 

 Horticultural Magazine, which gives the 

 whole treatment of the plant, accompanied 

 with Illustrations showing the high style of 

 perfection to which it has arrived in Eng- 

 land.— Ed.] 



" There is scarcely a florist's flower which 

 repays the grower so well for a little extra 

 care as the Pansy, and perhaps there are 

 few which are sooner spoiled or lost, if ne- 

 glected. It may appear strange, but it is 

 nevertheless true, that the finest variety in 

 cultivation will, if planted out, and left to 

 itself, degenerate in size and color so com- 

 pletely, as not to be recognized at all, and 

 its constitution will be so completely altered, 

 that cuttings from it can never be recovered, 

 that is to say, the bloom from such cuttings 

 can scarcely ever afterwards be got so fine 

 as the originals were at first. This is an 

 important fact, because a man may easily 

 spoil his whole collection. We need not 

 exemplify this better than by calling the re- 

 collection of Pansy growers to the state of 

 a neglected bed. Have they not observed 

 that the plants become straggling and weak? 

 the flowers small and out of character? and 

 that they might look in vain for a bloom fit 

 to show even among the best varieties? 

 Follow the same bed somewhat longer, and 

 the plants get yellow, the foliage small, and 

 probably the half of them dwindle and die 



ranium is like the new varieties of Pelar- 

 goniums, now so much in cultivation ; noi 

 do they seem at all likely to breed or hybri- 

 dize ; they appear, in fact, very distinct fa- 

 milies. The former paper, in which the 

 properties of a perfect Pansy are given, 

 will sufficiently instruct the amateur as to 

 the kind of flower he should choose when 

 in bloom; but as he may probably wish to 

 begin before he has an opportunity of seeing 

 a collection, he must trust to a respectable 

 dealer for his first few plants. We suppose 

 these to come, as they generally do, very 

 small and poorly rooted ; but if he be for- 

 tunate enough to get good strong plants in 

 pots, he will be much forwarder. The first 

 thing to look to is the bed or border in which 

 they are to grow. If it is intended to shade 

 them on all proper occasions, it may be in 

 any open space in the garden ; but if not, 

 they should be planted where the sun does 

 not shine the three or four hottest hours of 

 the day. If this bed be composed already 

 of good loam, let thero be six inches of 

 good thoroughly rotted cow dung laid all 

 over it, and well forked into the top eight 

 or ten inches of the loam ; and this can 

 only be efl^ectually done by repeatedly work- 

 ing it with a fork, and once or twice digging 

 it over. If there be no proper stuff', have 

 the mould dug out one foot deep, and fill it 

 up with two parts good sandy loam, and 

 one part cow dung rotted into mould, or for 

 want of this, a mixture of half ordinary 

 dung and half leaf mould ; and if the latter 

 altogether. Scarcely one of the flowers cannot be had, all dung must be used, but 



will be better than wild ones, and if cut' 

 tings be taken in that state, it will be im- 

 possible to make them strong plants under 

 two or three generations, and perhaps never. 

 The general cultivation, therefore, of the 

 Pansy requires care and attention, although 

 the management is simple, and those who 

 fancy we are too particular in our directions, 

 will find to their cost that very trifling omis- 

 sions will damage their stock, and keep 

 them far behind other competitors in the 

 size of their blooms, and the character of 

 their flowers. It is perfectly unnecessary 

 here to describe the flower. The botanical 

 name for it is Viola tricolor, or Three-colored 

 llolet. They are the same genus, but no 

 more like one another than the Scarlet Ge- 



in no case must dung be used until it is 

 perfectly rotted into mould. Of course, 

 these must be well incorporated. In this 

 bed must the plants be placed not less than 

 six inches apart, and the best time to plant 

 them is April or October — in the former 

 case there will be no frost to hurt them, 

 and in the latter there is time to get esta- 

 blished before the winters set in. If the 

 plants are long, pinch out the tops, that they 

 may throw out side branches. If short and 

 bushy, they may be left as they are. Noth- 

 ing better can be done for them, than throw- 

 ing a little loose litter over them, to protect 

 them from hard frosts, and to pick off' all 

 the blooms that come before the plants are 

 well established ; for as the blooming un- 



