HEARTSEASE. 



241 



HEARTSEASE. 



Heartsease. 



The common 



Viola lutea, with V. 



grandiflora and V. antenna, are the joint 

 parents of the many beautiful flowers 

 known to us in these days under the general 

 name of heartsease or pansies. The 

 history of their cultivation is this : In the 

 year 1812 there was living at Walton-on- 

 Thames the Lady Mary Bennett, daughter 

 of the Earl of Tankerville. The common 

 heartsease was her favourite flower, and a 

 large space in her garden was devoted to 

 the growth of it. Her gardener, 

 Mr. Richardson, with praise- 

 worthy assiduity, selected the 

 best seed each year, and was 

 pleased to find that he could 

 thus obtain some remarkably 

 good varieties. These seedlings 

 were shown by Mr. Richardson 

 to other florists, who became 

 interested in his experiments, 

 and in a few years the culture 

 of the heartsease became popu- 

 lar ; it soon took rank among 

 florists' flowers. 



Pansies are of two kinds the 

 English, or Show variety, and 

 the Belgian, or Fancy variety. 

 If it be asked what constitutes 

 the difference between a Show 

 and a Fancy Pansy, the answer 

 is that it is in the "blotch," 

 or patch of colour immediately 

 in the vicinity of, and proceeding from, the 

 eye, as it were, this being small in the 

 former and large in the latter the larger, 

 indeed, the better. The Show pansy is 

 divided into three classes, namely, white 

 grounds, yellow grounds, and selfs. In a 

 white ground pansy, the three lower petals 

 are white or cream, the outer edge sur- 

 rounded by a belt of darker colour, either 

 broad or narrow, according to the variety. 

 A yellow ground differs from the white 

 ground in the colour only, which is yellow 



instead of white. The top petals in both 

 varieties are selfs that is, of one coloui 

 throughout and should be of exactly the 

 same shade as the belt. A self is a pansy 

 of one colour only, the blotch and eye ex- 

 cepted. In very dark selfs no blotch it 

 discernible. The different parts of the 

 pansy, namely the eye, the blotch, the 

 ground colour, and the belt, may be dis- 

 cerned from the accompanying illustration, 

 in which they are clearly indicated, and 

 which represents a Show pansy. Pansies 



SHOW PANSY. 



. Ground Colour, b. Blotch, c. Belt. d. Eye. 



may be propagated from seed, or by cuttings, 

 or division of the roots ; they are suitable 

 also for pot culture. 



Soil: its Preparation, &>c. Any ordinary 

 garden soil will do for the pansy ; but to 

 grow them for exhibition purposes it must 

 be properly prepared as follows : Trencr 

 the ground two spits deep in October 01 

 November, bringing the best soil to the top 

 If the plants are to be grown in a bed i* 

 should not be more than 4 feet in width. 

 When dug over, the ground will be about 



