310 On the Cultivation of the Pansy. 



for months past. It cannot be denied but that early blooms 

 of well-grown pansies are charming in the extreme ; their 

 rich velvety appearance and freshness of color make them 

 peculiarly attractive. 



Those in pots will now require to be gone over frequently 

 with the water-pot, being careful at the same time not to 

 give much water to plants of slow growth ; the constitution 

 of some varieties being very different to that of others, and 

 requiring judgment in this respect. 



Any seed that may have been saved during the autumn 

 should now be sown in pans, the more early in the month 

 the better, and placed in gentle heat. Care must be taken 

 in watering after they are up, otherwise they are liable to 

 shank oif. 



Look over the beds of autumn -plan ted seedlings, as many 

 will have been loosened by the frost, and will require press- 

 ing down. 



If our readers are enthusiastic growers, they will not ob- 

 ject to follow our recommendation, and carefully to hunt by 

 candlelight for slugs, if their beds are troubled with that pest. 

 How many, on visiting their pansies in the freshness of an 

 April morning, have found their buds and flowers disfigured 

 for want of such precaution ! 



MAY. 



This is the month when the pansy-grower will be fully 

 repaid for all his previous trouble. Those in pots and in the 

 autumn-planted beds will be in full bloom throughout this 

 month : and if the plants are such as they ought to be, from 

 the grower having adopted the treatment we have recom- 

 mended, the blooms will be large and fine, unless cold winds, 

 or frosty nights, should make them curled and rough, and so 

 disfigure the best kinds. Hence the reason of our recom- 

 mending pot-culture, as a certain plan of obtaining good 

 blooms at an early period of the year. 



Those in pots will now require watering more freely, that 

 is, if the plants have done well, and made a vigorous growth ; 

 at every alternate watering we give them weak liquid ma- 

 nure. Watering, as well as the other operations enumer- 

 ated, must, in a great measure, be left to the skill and judg- 



