264 



CULTURE OF THE PANSY. 



root wrts takcMi up, the ball of earth was 

 bnlced hard ; not a siiiL^le fibre had come 

 throii^^h into the good liij^ht soil, and the 

 variety was lost. A few persons may re- 

 member the (lower, which was a deep pur- 

 ple, verv round, as tiiick almost as a bit of 

 velvet. It was called the Metropolitan, and 

 was exhibited twice — once at the Ked Lion, 

 Hampton, and the second lime in Mr. Fla- 

 najran's window ; and ]\Ir. Wakelinq- took 

 a sketcli of one, though not the best bloom. 

 One of our most successful growers offered 

 £10 for the seedling plant before it Avas re- 

 moved ; and notwithstanding all the fine 

 flowers which have been raised, we may 

 safely call the loss of the Metropolitan a se- 

 rious disappointment to the growers of the 

 Pansy. Since this occurrence, we have 

 seen many very good collections suffer much 

 from the change of soil, without noticing 

 what was about their roots when they were 

 bought in, and acting accordingly. 



•' There is another cause of great failure, 

 Avhich many growers have not noticed even 

 up to this time. It is not an uncommon thing 

 to see in a bed of Pansies, plants in full 

 health one day, and dead down to the sur- 

 face the next. We have often heard this 

 attributed to an attack from some grub, par- 

 ticularly as the growers, on looking to the 

 stem, find, as they fancy, the inside hollow, 

 where the grub has eaten away the inside. 

 This is, m general, pure fancy. The stem 

 of the Pansy is naturally hollow ; but in 

 nineteen cases out of twenty, the enemy is 

 the wind. In very gusty weather, if the 

 bed is exposed, many of the plants may be 

 seen blown all on one side at every gust, 

 and when the gust is over, fall back into its 

 place. If this occur, when there has been 

 recent moisture, either by watering or rain, 

 this constant bending backwards and for- 

 wards bruises or breaks the single stem, by 

 which even a large spreading plant is held 

 to its root ; and we have seen, upon an ave- 

 rage, after a windy night, a fifth, perhaps, 

 of the number withered the next morning, 

 and either broken quite off, or hanging by 

 only one side of the stem, which being hol- 

 low, may be seen to have the appearance 

 vvhich a pink has, when the wireworm has 

 gone up the very heart of the plant. The 

 best preventive is to have the bed where it 



is sheltered from the wind ; but if this can- 

 not be, the next best is to peg down the 

 princq)al side branches with hooks made of 

 fern, or birch twigs, which must be cut like 

 a hooked walking stick ; this prevents the 

 wind from blowing up one side of the plant, 

 by which it must suffer, even though it be 

 not actually broken. 



POT CULTURE FOR SHOW. 



" We hope and believe that the Pansy 

 will, herealter (though perhaps not directly) 

 be shown in pots ; and with this impression 

 we add a few instructions for a mode of 

 culture, adapted to show off the plant as 

 well as the flower. We have already given 

 directions for pot culture, but that is only 

 when pots were to be a substitute for growth 

 in the ground, and when the flowers were 

 to be cut from the plant ; we accordingly 

 directed the very first potting (from the cut- 

 ting bed where they were struck) to be in 

 size 32-pots ; where, however, the pots are 

 to be shown, it is necessary to obtain a large 

 quantity of bloom and a bushy handsome 

 plant. In this case, the struck cuttings 

 must be first placed in 60-sized pots, and 

 the top of the plant must have the leading 

 top pinched out ; thiswill cause side branches 

 to come out ; and if any one of these take 

 the lead, and grow stronger than the others, 

 it must be checked by the same means. All 

 bloom buds must also be picked ofl^. They 

 must be constantly watered, that they may 

 not be distressed for moisture, for they are 

 very differently situated from those in the 

 open ground ; and thej' must be shaded 

 from the heat of the sun, whenever it is 

 strong, though the morning and evening 

 sun is beneficial. As soon as the roots be- 

 come matted to the sides of the pots, they 

 must be changed for size 48 ; and the plants 

 by this time should be bushy and handsome. 

 The blooms may now be allowed to come 

 forward; as they are opening, instead of 

 plain water, crive them liquid manure, which 

 should be decomposed cow-dung — say one 

 quart of the decomposed dung in two gal- 

 lons of water, stirred up well, and be al- 

 lowed to settle for half an hour. It is not 

 that the soil is in want of nourishment, be- 

 ing a great part of it dung, but the roots, 

 which take in the greatest portion of nou- 



