312 On the Cultivation of the Pansy. 



equally useful. Never shade the entire bed with canvass or 

 other material ; it would bring one fine head of bloom for a 

 week or so, but from that time the blooms would degenerate 

 in size, with drawu-up plants. We need not point out the 

 difference between the pansy and the tulip. The succession 

 of bloom required from the former, and not from the latter, 

 accounts for the difference in the mode of shading. But 

 with the shades we first described, a single bloom can be 

 protected without injury to the plant itself, or those aroimd 

 it. Remove the shade a few hours in the morning and even- 

 ing; it will invigorate the bloom selected, and keep that part 

 of the plant from drawing. 



iMuch good will result from having some tall upright 

 stakes, or any pieces of wood sufficiently high, placed close 

 to the bed on the south side, to which fix some very thin 

 canvass during the heat of the day. This will not draw the 

 plants, as the canvass we use is sufficiently thin to admit the 

 air passing through it, yet has the desired effect, by keeping 

 the blooms in color a longer time. 



Six days before a show will suffice to look round for 

 blooms likely to be good when i'uUy grown; but the blooms 

 so selected must not be shaded until a day or two later. 

 This is supposing that the weather is warm ; but should it 

 be otherwise, extend the time, as the number of days a 

 bloom will keep will depend on the weather. Those of good 

 substance will of course keep the longest. 



Put in as many cuttings as can be procured in thi;i month ; 

 it will answer two purposes; strengthen the plant in the 

 main shoots, and thereby increase the size of the blooms, 

 and at the same time euvsure a stock of all the leading kinds 

 before the large plants begin to die off from the heat. Entire 

 beds have been known to shank off during a very hot sum- 

 mer ; and all we can say on this part of the subject is, that 

 the further the pansy is removed from its original state by 

 high cultivation, &c., the more they shank off in this manner. 



Therefore, if our recommendations are attended to, by 

 propagating as much as possible durhig the spring, the loss, 

 comparatively, will be but trifling, as the young stock is not 

 liable to go off from the same cause; and when once we get 

 through the summer months, they generally grow like weeds. 



