PAN 



[605 ] 



PAN 



PANICLE is a loose bunch of flowers, 

 as in the Oat (Ave'na), and London 

 Pride (SaxVfraga). 



PANNING is forming a pan or basin in 

 the soil round the stem of a tree or 

 shrub, in which to pour water. 



PANSY. (Ti'ola tri'color.) The native 

 situation of the wild Pansy is generally 

 in fields of growing corn, where it is par- 

 tially shaded from the wind and the heat 

 of the midday sun. To grow the Pansy 

 for the purpose of exhibition, the situa- 

 tion for the. plants should also be one 

 sheltered from all cutting winds, as these 

 are very destructive, often injuring, and 

 even killing, the plants close to the soil, 

 by twisting them about. The situation 

 should be open to the free circulation of 

 the air, and exposed to the morning sun, 

 but protected from the full influence of 

 the midday sun, which injures the colour 

 of the blooms. The plants should be 

 placed together in beds made for the 

 purpose. The situation should be cool 

 and moist, but thoroughly drained ; for 

 although the Pansy requires considerable 

 moisture during the blooming season, 

 and through the summer months, yet it is 

 very impatient of superabundant mois- 

 ture, and the plants will be found never 

 to do well when the soil becomes in any 

 degree sodden. 



The Soil should be rich and tolerably 

 light. Decayed cucumber-bed dung is 

 the best manure, and the soil a light, 

 hazel loam, with a good portion of de- 

 cayed turf from pasture land, thoroughly 

 intermixed by frequent stirring and dig- 

 ging, and to three barrow-loads of this 

 soil add one of the cucumber-bed manure 

 two years old. Manure-water, particu- 

 larly guano-water, applied during the 

 blooming season, is very beneficial. 



The Plants should be carefully selected 

 for the purpose of producing blooms for 

 exhibition, as it will be always found that 

 when they have flowered well through one 

 season, they never produce so fine blooms 

 the second. Those who intend to grow 

 the Pansy for exhibition should select 

 young plants well established from 

 cuttings for the purpose. For the 

 spring exhibitions in May and June, 

 select plants struck the previous autumn, 

 in August and September ; and for the 

 autumn exhibitions in September, select 

 plants struck early in the spring; and 

 after these have produced their blooms, 

 save them for store plants, to produce 



cuttings, always having a constant sue- 

 cession of young plants for the purpose 

 of blooming. 



Propagation. The young side-shootsr 

 are to be prepared for cuttings, as the 

 old, hollow stems seldom strike freely, 

 and do not grow so strong for spring 

 blooming. Take off a sufficient quantity 

 of these side -shoots in August, or the 

 beginning of September, and for autumn- 

 blooming in April and May; these insert 

 either under hand-glasses, or in pots 

 placed in a cool frame in some good, light 

 compost, mixed with a good quantity of 

 silver-sand, taking care to keep them 

 moderately moist, and shading them from 

 hot suns. 



The Disease to which the Pansy is moat 

 subject is a withering away suddenly, as 

 if struck by something at the root. This 

 disease has received various names, as 

 root-rot, decline, &c. ; but both cause and 

 remedy are unknown. Old plants are 

 much more subject to it than young ones r 

 and it appears to be most prevalent during 

 hot and dry seasons. When a plant is 

 thus struck, which is indicated by a 

 withering of the foliage, if it be a rare, 

 and choice kind, immediately take all 

 the cuttings you can get, and strike them, 

 as almost invariably the old plants die. 

 Strong, stimulating manures are produc- 

 tive of this disease. As a preventive 

 keep the surface of the soil frequently 

 stirred. 



Insects. The worst foes of the Pansy 

 are the slug and the snail. To destroy 

 and keep away these vermin, water the 

 bed late of an evening, in moist weather, 

 with lime-water, and sprinkle the surface 

 pretty thickly with fresh wood-ashes. 

 See AGROMYZA. 



Box for exhibiting Blooms. Dr. Lind- 

 ley says, that the best-constructed box 

 for exhibiting twenty-four Heart's-ease is 

 made of deal, of the following dimensions : 

 twenty inches long, one wide, and five 

 inches deep; the lid made to unhinge; 

 a sheet of zinc fitted inside, resting upon 

 a rim ; four rows of six holes each cut in 

 the zinc at three inches apart; under 

 each hole a zinc tube soldered to the 

 plate, and intended to contain the water j 

 the apertures to admit the flower made 

 in the form of a key-hole, as it will ad- 

 mit part of the calyx, and keep the 

 flower in a flat position. The outside 

 may be painted green ; but the zinc plate 

 should be painted of a dead white. 



