EARLY CULTIVATION 5 



yellow Heart's-ease which he had gathered in his grounds 

 at Iver." In Glenny's Garden Almanack for 1885, George 

 J. Henderson stated that about the year 1812 there 

 lived at Walton-on-Thames a daughter of the Earl of 

 Tankerville, and her favourite flower was the common 

 Pansy, which she cultivated over a large portion of her 

 garden. By giving them good cultivation and selecting 

 seeds from the best kinds every year, this lady obtained 

 varieties possessing remarkably fine flowers. It therefore 

 appears possible that two growers turned their attention 

 almost simultaneously to the improvement of the wild 

 Pansy. Thompson's work was carried on systematically 

 for thirty years, and he became known among flower-lovers 

 in the south of England as " the father of the Heart's-ease." 

 No better method could be adopted to illustrate the develop- 

 ment of the Pansy than setting forth the diagrams at the 

 front of this volume. 



From 1814 to 1830 the florists directed their efforts to 

 obtaining flowers of increased size and bearing more dis- 

 tinct markings than in any of the wild types ; and in regard 

 to form, Thompson's own expression was they " were lengthy 

 as a horse's head." Nothing daunted, he resolved to perse- 

 vere, and was at last rewarded by obtaining "rich colouring, 

 large size, and fine shape." Up to this time (about 1830) 

 nothing in the way of blotches had been secured on the 

 flowers. Blotches are the dark markings of the three lower 



