I.] SHOW, FANCY, AND TUFTED PANSfES 141 



The Viola or Tufted Pansy, so familiar now in every 

 garden, is really a hybrid between the Show Pansy and the 

 Viola cornuta (which came into fashion as a bedding plant 

 more than thirty years ago), a perennial with pretty pale 

 blue flowers, paler and larger than the Czar Violet. It is a 

 strong, wiry plant, not easily disturbed, and its progeny has 

 much of the perennial toughness of the parent stock. The 

 term " tufted " is used to distinguish plants of a spreading 

 habit, like Pinks and Alpine Violets, from plants with 

 simple erect stems, like the Stock. The Belgian Pansies, 

 for example, do not spread at the root as the tufted Pansies 

 do. Plants of a " tufted " habit are often a mass of delicate 

 rootlets even above the ground, so that they are easily 

 increased. This is the reason the older Pansies often 

 die after flowering, while those crossed with the Alpine 

 (cornuta] remain like true perennials, and are easily 

 increased. 



The Violas are much better adapted for bedding out 

 than either the Show or the Belgian Pansies. Pansies 

 and Violas like a deep, rich, and cool moist soil. They 

 are best suited to a northern climate, and prefer the 

 shady side of the garden to the full sunshine. It is 

 best to make cuttings of them every year or so. They 

 may be struck in the open ground in summer in a half 

 shady place, and well watered in dry weather. All 

 sorts, including Violets, are readily raised from seed 

 sown in spring or early summer, and seedlings, as a 

 rule, do not suffer from winter frosts when well estab- 

 lished. 



