270 Pansies. 



very few ; yet, as all are pretty and fragrant, we should not neglect the pansy 

 because we cannot grow our flower in conformity with what is, after all, 

 rather an arbitrary standard. The qualities of a good pansy, as laid down 

 and published by the Flower Committee of the Massachusetts Horticultu- 

 ral Society a few years since, and to which the flowers given in our illustra- 

 tion conform, are, — 



1. The flower should be round, flat, and very smooth at the edge; every 

 notch or serrature or unevenness being a blemish. 



2. The petals should be thick, and of a rich velvety texture, standing 

 out firm and flat without support. 



3. Whatever may be the colors, the ground-color of the three lower 

 petals should be alike : whether it be white, yellow, straw-color, plain, 

 fringed, or blotched, there should not in these three petals be a shade of 

 difference in the principal color. 



4. Whatever may be the character of the marks or darker pencillings on 

 the ground-color, they should be bright, dense, distinct, and retain their 

 character without running or flushing, or mixing with the ground-color; and 

 the white, yellow, or straw-color should be pure. 



5. The iwo upper petals should be perfectly uniform, whether dark or 

 light, or fringed or blotched. The two petals immediately under them 

 should be alike ; and the lower petal, as before observed, must have the 

 sam-i ground-color and character as the two above it; and the pencilling 

 or marking of the eye in the three lower petals must not break through to 

 the edges. 



6. In size, there is a distinct point, when coarseness does not accom- 

 pany it ; in other words, if flowers are equal in other respects, the larger is 

 the better : but no flower should be shown under an inch and a half 

 across. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



Ragged edges, crumpled petals, indentures on the petal, indistinct mark- 

 ings or pencillings, and flushed or run colors, are great blemishes ; but if 

 there be one ground-color to the lower petal, and another color to the side 

 ones, or if there are two shades of ground-color at all, it is not a show-flower, 

 though many such are improperly tolerated (the yellow within the eye is 

 not considered ground-color). In selecting new varieties, not one should 



