94 heart's ease or pansy. [April 



of air, and about the end of next month they may be planted 

 in the borders, providing a spot for them that is or has been 

 well worked, and enriched with well-decomposed manure. 

 Secure their flower-stems to proper rods. Previous to plant- 

 ing the roots, all the off-sets should be taken off and planted 

 separately ; keep the crown of the bulb level with the surface 

 of the pot, and when they are replanted in the open ground, 

 put them two inches deeper. 



But when the convenience of a hot-bed cannot be obtained, 

 they will succeed very well if planted about the end of this 

 month or first of next in the garden, in a bed of earth pre- 

 pared for their reception. Let it be dug deep, and make 

 Uie soil light and rich, by giving it a good supply of manure 

 two years old, well broken and incorporated with the earth, 

 adding a little sand where the soil is heavy. The black earth 

 from the woods, produced from decayed leaves, is equally as 

 good without sand. Having the ground in proper order, draw 

 drills about four inches deep and eighteen inches apart; plant 

 the bulbs (after divesting them of their off-sets) nine inches 

 apart in a row, covering the crown of the bulb about an inch 

 and a half. When done, carefully rake and finish off the 

 beds. When they shoot up their flower-stems, give them 

 neat rods for their support. Plant the off-sets in closer rows 

 to produce flowering-roots for next year, because they seldom 

 flower the second time. 



on the culture of the heart's-ease or pansy (viola 



tricolor). 



The simplicity and striking beauty of this lovely little 

 flower have attracted notice from the earliest floral times, but 

 it is only within these few years that it has come into high 

 estimation as a florist's flower. Indeed, when the figures and 

 descriptive characters of these " little gems" came first from. 

 England to this country, we were almost induced to believe 

 they were exaggerated " pictures of fancy," till we actually 

 cultivated them within these last two years, in our own 

 parterre, upwards of two inches in diameter. 



They delight in a situation partially shaded from the hot 

 rays of the sun, either fully exposed to the morning rays till 

 ten o'clock, or the afternoon sun from three :>'clock a soil 



