FLORISTS FLOWERS : PANSIES, PELARGONIUMS. 81 



sand, place them in a cool frame, or under hand glasses, 

 keep them moderately moist, and shade off the hot sun. 

 They may also be propagated by division of the root, 

 and by layers, merely pegged down, not slit, on account 

 of their tendency to damp off. New sorts may be 

 raised from seed, which must be sown as soon as it is 

 ripe, in a bed, where the young plants may remain until 

 they give themselves a character, good or bad, by 

 flowering. 



Pansies are rather apt to die off suddenly, without 

 apparent reason, perhaps sometimes from too stimulating 

 manures. If any especially good or rare plant begin 

 to wither in the leaves, take cuttings at once, for it will 

 most likely die. As a preventive, lightly fork and rake 

 the beds between the plants. 



A fine pansy should be large and round, the petals 

 fitting exactly to each other to give this circular form, 

 colour fine and distinct, and eye distinctly marked. 



The boxes in which to exhibit th flowers have zinc 

 plates, on which the petals lie flat, with tubes for water 

 fixed below for the stalks. Each h^le for the stalk is 

 long in shape, so that it takes in thp calyx, and so fixes 

 the flower down flat. 



Pelargoniums, our dear old friends, formerly called 

 Geraniums, are favourites with all on account of the gay 

 beauty of their flowers, and the facility with which they 

 can be kept, propagated, and grown, with no appliances 

 whatever except some place in which they may be pre- 

 served from frost. Wherever they are kept they should 

 have a free circulation of air around them ; if they can 

 have light on all sides they will grow all the better for 

 it, and the plants should be so placed that they can grow 

 quite free of each other. To make excellent soil for 

 potting geraniums get turf cut thick from an old pas- 

 ture, where the grass is fine ; chop it up and lay it in a 

 ridge, facing east and west, so that it may get the sun 

 on both sides in the course of the day. Let it be 

 turned over every three months for a year, and then it 

 will be fit for use. If it then be found to be too heaey 

 and close in quality, add sand. 



