368 On the Cultivation of ike Pansy. 



wireworm and grub. If we have not cleared our soil of the 

 former, previous to planting, we place pieces of potato or car- 

 rot under the surface, which should be examined two or three 

 times a week, and all that have been attracted there de- 

 stroyed. The latter are easily found when raking over the 

 beds. 



Slugs and earwigs are the most destructive to the blooms. 

 If the former are numerous, it may arise from slovenly gar- 

 dening;* weeds, and all kinds of rubbish, should not be al- 

 lowed to accumulate. The surface of the soil cannot be 

 moved by raking or hoeing too often, for more reasons than 

 keeping insects under. Earwigs should be trapped on the 

 plan adopted by the dahlia growers. 



We have also been called upon to state what we consider 

 the best number of blooms to exhibit. This must depend on 

 the time of the year, and on this subject taste will vary — not 

 that we hesitate to state our opinion. In the height of the 

 pansy season, say any time in May, we recommend 24 for 

 amateurs in 4 sixes, and 36 for nurserymen in 4 nines. So 

 much can be said about stands for showing them on. that it 

 must form a separate article, with plans and dimensions, as 

 uniformity ought to be enforced by the different societies. 



We recommend that it be made a rule that any stand con- 

 taining a flower with two decided shades of ground-color, 

 should be disqualified. A carnation with a run petal, would 

 be fatal to the best stand ever put up, although this is a plant 

 that produces but two to three blooms annually, at the out- 

 side; whereas the pansy has its hundreds, and should be 

 subject to rules as stringent. 



We hope those who grow for exhibition, and have attended 

 to our directions, will be able to give a good account of them- 

 selves after the shows are over ; but there is far more pleas- 

 ure in witnessing a fine collection at home in iheir freshness, 

 than in looking over the best exhibition of cut blooms. 



* Though we are aware that in some situations they seem indestructible. It is a 

 good plan to sow lime, slacked to a very fine powder, on the adjoining ground very 

 early on a mild, damp morning. Those on the beds may be trapped with cabbage or 

 lettuce leaves, which should be spread at night, and examined the next day. 



