52 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



not come true. There is no other method of propagation 

 than by cuttings to perpetuate distinct varieties true to 

 character. The raising of new varieties is a very interesting 

 pursuit, and it can be carried out by any amateur. If a 

 mixed bed of Pansies is being grown, seeds should only 

 be saved from the very choicest varieties. If, in the case 

 of Violas, a new white variety, for example, is desired, a few 

 plants of two or three of the best white varieties obtain- 

 able should be planted in an isolated corner of the garden, 

 and seeds saved from them. Both Pansies and Violas are 

 visited by bees, moths, beetles, and flies, either in search 

 of nectar, which is to be found in the spur behind the 

 lower petal, or to feed on the pollen which drops out of 

 the anthers into the hairy groove formed where the spur 

 joins the petal. Making these visitations, the insects carry 

 pollen from one flower to the other, and the lip-like arrange- 

 ment on the point of the stigma lends itself admirably to 

 cross-fertilisation. The lip is viscid on the upper side, and 

 pollen brought by an insect from a previously visited flower 

 easily adheres to it. It is possible, of course, to fertilise 

 by hand, but to obtain satisfactoiy results plants must be 

 grown in pots and protected from insect visitors at the 

 crucial time by screens of fine netting. The blooms re- 

 quire to be emasculated at a very early stage an operation 

 of extreme delicacy. If insects are excluded and hand 

 fertilisation is not practised, few, if any, seeds will be ob- 



