158 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



" I know of no plant so easy to cultivate, and at the same 

 time so difficult to keep from year to year, as the Pansy. It 

 may be raised from seeds and bloomed in a few months, and 

 an endless variety of color, marking, and texture, may thus be 

 produced. Choice kinds, either selected from the seed-beds or 

 procured from the florists, are seldom bloomed more than once, 

 unless by some expert amateur, or in some favorable locality. 

 In winter, the Pansy is extremely liable to damp off, although 

 protected in frames ; and we all know, to our mortification, the 

 ill effect of a summer's sun on it. It is scarcely possible to 

 point to another tribe of plants so peculiarly the amateur's as 

 this, or one that puzzles him to cultivate more. The following 

 hints may assist him. 



" Seeds sown in August, in the open border, will come up 

 readily in a few weeks. The seeds should be slightly covered 

 with fine soil, if covered at all, as half the seeds sown rot in 

 the ground, from being covered too deeply. As soon as they 

 expand the second set of leaves, they should be planted out 

 into beds, in lines, from eight to ten inches asunder. If the 

 seed has been carefully saved from good kinds, an interesting 

 display will be the result ; and the raising of new varieties is 

 a labor of peculiar interest. As spring advances, the plants so 

 treated will commence flowering. The next point will be to 

 select those which possess good qualities, with a view to per- 

 petuate them. There are many singular and pleasing varie- 

 ties that do not come within the arbitrary rules* by which florist's 

 flowers are judged, which nevertheless are worth retaining for 

 common border decoration ; but if a rigid adherence to these 

 rules is determined upon, then the flowers must be as nearly 

 round as possible, expanding their petals flatly; crumpled 

 petals, with ragged edges, are points that will justify their 

 being cast aside. Round flowers, with flat petals, must also 

 have firmness of texture to recommend them ; a flimsy flower 

 in the fancy, although possessing other properties, is univer- 

 sally discarded. The eye should be concentrated, and not 

 starry ; the colors soft and clearly defined. These instructions 



