PANSIES, VIOLAS 4P VIOLETS 



INTRODUCTION 



" The pretty Pansies then I'll tie, 



Like stones some chain enchasing, 

 The next to them their near ally 

 The purple Violet placing." 



ONE of the first flowers children learn to love is the Pansy, 

 and the love thus early acquired is preserved to the end of 

 life. To what shall the preference be attributed ? Is it to 

 the modest habit of the flower, its sweet fragrance, its rich 

 velvety texture, or its easy culture and adaptability ? When 

 a town dweller first succeeds in obtaining a small plot of 

 ground for the cultivating of flowers^ he invariably begins 

 with Pansies and Violas. He may aspire to higher things, 

 but he starts with Pansies, than which no flowers are more 

 suited for cultivation in the suburban gardens of our large 

 towns. In many situations they become almost perennial, 

 whilst some of the Violas are so precocious in spring they 

 will bloom under the snow. The reader has probably seen 

 the effect of a snowstorm in April on a bed of Crocuses, 

 when the yellow or purple flowers appeared as colour lines 



