262 



CULTURE OF THE PANSY. 



questionably lakes away the strengtli of a 

 plant, flowers should not be allowed to per- 

 fect themselves until the plants are strong 

 enough to bear them well. The flowers 

 will in time come large, and fine in color. 

 Advantage should be taken of the first side 

 shoots that can be spared without injuring 

 the plant, and if these are carefully taken 

 off close to the main stem, they may be 

 struck under a hand glass in a shady bor- 

 der. 



" The cuttings should not be longer than 

 two inches ; and to prepare them for strik- 

 ing, the leaves should be taken off halfway 

 up. The compost to strike them in must 

 be the same as the bed in which they grow. 

 Let the hand glass be about the size that 

 will cover the quantity to be struck, and 

 not more ; let the place be well dug, and 

 the lumps well broken. Rake the surface 

 smooth, make a mark the size of the hand 

 glass, by pressing the edge of it on the 

 mould ; plant the cuttings down low enough 

 to cover the inch that is stripped of the 

 leaves : they need not be more than an 

 inch apart, and the mark made by the edge 

 of the glass will show how to keep them 

 within the space. The best w-ay to put in 

 the cuttings, is with a small bit of smooth 

 twig, or the point of a skewer. Water 

 them to close the earth about them, and 

 cover them up, shading them from the sun, 

 if any should reach them, and water them 

 occasionally, for they must never be dry. It 

 will soon be seen, by the growing of the 

 cuttings, when they are w^ell rooted ; but all 

 bloom buds must be picked off as soon as 

 they appear. This system of taking the 

 side shoots from the principal bed, should 

 be pursued as long as the flowers keep good ; 

 and when they begin to get smaller, cut 

 them in close, and let them grow again. 

 But, in the mean time, prepare another bed 

 to receive your struck cuttings; for it is on- 

 ly by a constant succession of young fresh 

 struck plants, that you can hope to keep up 

 the size of the flowers. It is probable that 

 the old plants which have been cut in may 

 grow again, and throw good flowers ; but if 

 not, dig them up at once, and throw them 

 away It cannot, however, be too strongly im- 

 pressed upon the mind, that the entire depen- 

 dence must be on young plants, and there- 



fore no opportunity should be lost of taking 

 cuttings, whenever they can be spared, from 

 the plants in flower. Those who sell Pan- 

 sies will, instead of throwing away old 

 roots, part them, and plant out the pieces. 

 If the plants are so treated before they de- 

 generate too much, they may turn out well ; 

 but no plant will throw a bloom so strong 

 as those which have been recently struck, 

 and are well rooted and established. When 

 Pansies are to be grown in pots, the com- 

 post should be the same ; the pots should 

 be thirty-two to the cast ; the crocks with 

 which they are drained should reach one- 

 fourth up the pot, and the plants should be 

 potted from the border where they are struck 

 — they must be watered well to close the 

 soil about the root, and be placed in the 

 shade until they are established. If you 

 have a common garden frame and light, 

 they should be placed in it, and shut down 

 close a day or two, and well shaded with 

 mats or cloths. Picking off the blooms 

 until the plants are established, and also 

 pinching out the heart of the main shoot, 

 to encourage the side branches, should be 

 attended to as much with your new plants, 

 as with the first you have ; and, in short, 

 Pansy-growing must be a constant succes- 

 sion of bed-making, cutting back, striking 

 cuttings, and replanting, the whole year 

 round. When old plants are removed, the 

 bed must be dressed two or three inches 

 thick with cow dung, or the dung of an old 

 melon bed, rotted into mould, or leaf mouid, 

 well dug into it and mixed, to keep up the 

 proper degree of nourishment for the new 

 plants, so far as regards the management 

 of known good varieties. 



FROM SEED. 



" The very best flowers that can be pur- 

 chased, ought alone to be admitted into col- 

 lections, and therefore it cannot matter how 

 the seed is saved ; but if the collection be 

 more general, it is better that half a dozen 

 plants of the very best varieties, according 

 to the properties laid down by us in the 

 early part of this Avork — that is to say, such 

 as are round, thick, flat, smooth-edged, and 

 well colored. Let those be placed, if pos- 

 sible, in a part of the garden where there 

 are no others ; let them be cultivated with 



