PROPAGATION 19 



Conference in 1895), who says: "If an insect pro- 

 boscis be inserted into the spur, the insect's eye 

 having perhaps been guided thereto by the radiating 

 lines so common in the wilding pansies, the surface of 

 the proboscis will be licked, so to speak, by the pro- 

 jecting lip, and pollen, if any, brought from a previous 

 Pansy flower, will be left upon its viscid surface. When 

 withdrawn, powdered with pollen from the anthers below, 

 the flexible lip is pushed up, only its dry under surface 

 being presented to the proboscis, and in the same action 

 the pollen upon the upper surface of the lip is transferred 

 to the still more viscid hollow surface of the stigma, 

 there to develop and fertilise the ovules." 



It will be seen, therefore, that if different varieties are 

 grown in close proximity to one another, the chances 

 are, that resulting seedlings grown from the seed saved 

 from any of these flowers will be crosses of many 

 different varieties. 



There are several periods of the year during which 

 seed may be sown, and to a great extent it is a matter 

 of convenience. 



Care should be taken that only the best seed is used, 

 and for this reason it should be obtained either from a 

 specialist or saved from the grower's own plants. The 

 latter method is far more interesting, but if the grower has 

 only a small selection of plants, there will not be much 

 likelihood of a good variability in the resulting seedlings. 



If the seed can be obtained from a specialist whose col- 

 lection may comprise some hundreds of different varieties, 

 this is much to be preferred. This is, of course, apart 

 from the question of artificial hybridisation, which is 

 dealt with in another chapter. 



A sowing may be made at the end of July or begin- 

 ning of August, and to this end a special compost should 

 be prepared. Equal parts of loam and leaf soil should 

 be taken, and to these should be added a liberal quantity 



