PROTECTING PANSY BLOOMS 39 



growths, as they get long, must either be pegged down 

 or tied to short stakes inserted in the ground for the 

 purpose. Discontinue removing the flower buds three 

 or four weeks before the flowers are wanted for the 

 show, and the result will be a crop of large, richly 

 coloured blossoms. Pansy blooms are often disfigured 

 by dirt which is splashed upon them by heavy rains. It 

 must be remembered that they are lowly flowers growing 

 very near to the ground, which is one of the reasons 

 why they require to be covered by any contrivance 

 which will prevent them getting bespattered. Many 

 quaint and curious plans are adopted for this purpose, 

 but a penny earthenware bowl supported in a cleft in 

 an inch-square stick is as effectual as any. The writer 

 has seen many hundreds of beautiful blooms taken from 

 beneath such covers, to be shown with pride and satis- 

 faction by their cultivators. 



It is necessary to caution growers that slugs and 

 snails are just as fond of the blooms as they are of 

 the green plants, for nothing is more disappointing 

 than the disfigurement of an otherwise perfect bloom 

 by a half-circle eaten out of its side by a slug. Plants 

 must never be dosed with soft soap or any other soluble 

 insecticide just previous to a show, as such would ruin 

 all the buds by bleaching them. If fly appears, the 

 centre of the plants can be lightly dusted with the best 



