404 The Pansy or Heartsease. 



Art. V. The Pansy or Heartsease. By E. W. 



The pansy, so celebrated in sentiment and song, and to 

 whicli so many pleasant associations are attached, and which, 

 in England, is one of the most favored of florists' flowers, 

 seems hardly to have received in this country the attention 

 due to its merits. Perhaps one cause of this is the warmer 

 and drier nature of our climate, which prevents its arriving to 

 as great a degree of perfection as in the more humid atmo- 

 sphere of England; and another cause is the neglect and 

 want of attention to its cultivation and management; for 

 there is no flower which is so capable of improvement, or one 

 which by neglect degenerates so rapidly as the pansy, and we 

 hope to hear of sufiicient premiums proposed, or inducements 

 held out by our Horticultural Societies, in order to bring this 

 humble, but beautiful flower again into favor ; for the public 

 have but little idea to what a degree of perfection this flower 

 has been brought by cultivation, and there is no more attract- 

 ive sight, or one which gives the garden a more bright and 

 lively appearance than a bed of well-grown pansies. We 

 propose to consider briefly the properties of a good flower, — 

 the manner of growing and propagating it, — and the soil best 

 adapted to its growth. 



In the first place, the pansy should be round or as nearly 

 round as possible in its outline, a flat surface, and with smooth, 

 even edges; every notch or indentation being, of course, a 

 blemish. The petals should be thick, and of a velvety tex- 

 ture, for however good in other respects, a dull color and a 

 thin, paper-like texture of the petal, makes a poor and un- 

 sightly flower and one not worth preserving, though of large 

 size. In regard to color, or rather arrangement of colors, there 

 is much to be considered, in order to decide upon the merits of 

 a show flower ; for whatever may be the variety, the ground 

 color of the three lower petals should be alike ; they may be 

 white, yellow, straw, plain, pencilled, or blotched, but they 

 should be alike as regards the ground color, and the marks, 

 spots, or dark pencillings upon the ground should be bright, 

 distinct, and without running or mixing with the ground color. 

 The two upper petals should also be perfectly uniform, whether 



