276 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



further mulch the bed with cow manure. This, com- 

 bined with water and liquid manure in summer, and 

 with systematic removal of fading flowers, will insure 

 success almost anywhere. In fact, with this treatment 

 Pansies may be grown successfully in town gardens. 

 They like rather than dislike clay soil. If well worked, 

 clay soil is both fertile and moist, so that it suits Pansies 

 well. If fine, fresh 'flowers are wanted for exhibition, 

 the plants had better be grown in a bed to themselves, 

 where special attention can be given to them. The buds 

 may be thinned to get increased size of bloom, and the 

 bed may be shaded with tiffany (a thin canvas) when 

 show day approaches. But in ordinary garden use 

 Pansies may be used in a less formal way. Clumps of 

 them may be set near the front of herbaceous or shrub 

 borders, and they may be used as margins for beds. 



Violas or Tufted Pansies. When bedding or border- 

 ing for garden effect is in view, the amateur may well 

 consider the Violas or Tufted Pansies, which are more 

 popular than the Pansies proper in these days. They 

 are of hybrid origin, and probably some varieties of the 

 garden Pansy have been used as parents of them. At 

 all events, while there is a wide distinction between an 

 exhibition Fancy Pansy and a Viola, it is sometimes 

 difficult to distinguish between garden Pansies and 

 Violas. The latter are supposed to have a more bushy 

 habit, to throw up more shoots, and to produce more 

 flowers than the Pansy. The blossoms are nominally 

 smaller, however. They may be raised from seed and 

 cuttings in precisely the same way as Pansies. Named 

 varieties must be kept true by propagation from cuttings, 

 but good mixed strains, also self blue, white, and yellow, 

 can be raised from seed. The great popularity of Violas 

 or Tufted Pansies is not at all surprising, for they are 



