174 FLOWERS. 



liquid manure ; but this should not be applied to tender grow- 

 ing annuals. 



In transplanting, keep the ball of earth round the plant, 

 and water it well for the first few days, till the ground is set. 

 Perhaps no garden-flower has more increased in size and 

 beauty of color, through cultivation, than the Pansy. The 

 origin of most of the pansies now in cultivation is from the 

 small European violet, Viola tricolor, hybridized by some 

 other species. They may be grown from the seed, or by di- 

 viding the root. They require in warm weather constant 

 watering, but the soil where they are placed should be well 

 drained. Cultivators seem always to delight in bringing for- 

 eign plants home, rather than in improving home productions. 

 The small white violet of our woods, pretty and exquisitely 

 fragrant, has never been cultivated, and in England it is said 

 that our mullein-plant is a conspicuous ornament of conser- 

 vatories. 



Biennials are plants that show no flower till the second 

 year, and then, after ripening their seed, die. I have been 

 told that annuals may sometimes be made biennial by keep- 

 ing the buds back with thumb-pruning, and sowing the seed 

 late. Wallflowers, Canterbury-bells, Snapdragons, Bromp- 

 ton Stocks, Hollyhocks, are biennials, though, excepting the 

 Brompton Stocks, these frequently last three or four years 

 from the first setting out. 



Florists' flowers are such as attain great size and glowing 

 colors by excessive painstaking in the culture, and they are 

 expected to hybridize freely, or to vary much from seed. 

 Florists have a certain coxcombry among themselves, and 

 may be seen criticising and throwing away flowers for some 

 alleged defects in form or color, unnoticed, because unknown, 

 to vulgar eyes ; thus, if the Dahlia shows any green in the 

 centre, it is worthless ; if in the Auricula or Polyanthus the 

 style projects beyond the stamens, such are called pin-eyed, 



