552 General Notices. 



well before potting ; plant the bulbs four inches deep, and do not give them 

 any water before the young shoots are to be seen ; put them in a cold frame, 

 or greenhouse, near the glass, until the young shoots are about six or eight 

 inches high ; then plenty of air must be given to them. Towards the mid- 

 dle of May they will require to be shifted into larger pots, and great care 

 must be taken not to destroy any of the roots. After being fresh potted, 

 they mav be taken out and placed in the open air altogether, but not ex- 

 posed to the sun's rays for six or eight days; being in the open air, they 

 will require a good supply of water, and they may remain out-of-doors until 

 the flowers are very nearly open, when they may be removed to the con- 

 servatory, if desired. Managed in this way, they will flower profusely; 

 and if the conservatory is not too much exposed to the sun, they will keep 

 in flower for a considerable time. L. Browni and L. eximium require al- 

 most the same treatment; but, being a little more tender, it would, per- 

 haps, be better to let them remain a little longer in the house ; and if taken 

 out, they should be plunged in an open frame, or flower-bed. As soon as 

 they have done flowering, they must be kept drier, and water must be given 

 sparingly, becoming gradually less. When ihe stems and leaves get yel- 

 low, the plants must be left quite dry in a greenhouse ; and about a month 

 before the time to put them in fresh soil, they must be taken out of the old 

 soil and put on a shelf. L. superbum, canadense, umbellatum, and phila- 

 delphicum are very fine North American species, and they can be managed 

 just as the L. lancifolium. — {Id., 1849, p. 709.) 



[We need only add to the above excellent advice, that L. eximium, and 

 the varieties of lancifolium, in our climate are quite hardy, if planted a 

 proper depth and covered with a few inches of leaves or manure. We have 

 just set out a large bed containing over 300 bulbs. — Ed.'\ 



Cultivation of the Pansy. — I know of no plant so easy to cultivate, and 

 at the same time so difficult to keep from year to year, as the pansy. It 

 may be raised from seeds and bloomed in a iew months, and an endless va- 

 riety of color, marking, and texture, may thus be produced. Choice kinds, 

 either selected from the seed-beds or procured from the florists, are seldom 

 bloomed more than once, unless by some expert amateur, or in some favora- 

 ble locality. In winter the pansy is extremely liable to damp ofl^, although 

 protected in frames ; and we all know to our mortification the ill eflect of a 

 Bummer's sun on it. It is scarcely possible to point to another tribe of 

 plants so peculiarly ihe amateur's as this, or one that puzzles him to culti- 

 vate more. The following hints may assist him. 



Seeds sown in autumn in pans, or even in the open border, will come up 

 readily in a few weeks. The seeds should be slightly covered with fine 

 soil, if covered at all, as half the seeds sown rot in the ground, from being 

 covered too deeply. As soon as they expand the second set of leaves, they 

 should be planted out into beds, in lines, from 8 to 10 inches asunder. If 

 the seed has been carefully saved from good kinds, an interesting display 

 will be the result ; and the raising of new varieties is a labor of peculiar in- 

 terest. As spring advances, the plants so treated, will commence flower- 

 ing. The next point will be to select those which possess good qualities, 



