Tin; CWAOIAN HOKTlCULTUniST. 60* 



THE PANSY. 



BY REV. VINCENT CLEMENTI, PETEIIBOROUGH. 



Permit me to make one or two additions to the interesting paper- 

 by Mrs James Davidson on the Pansy, comprised in your last number. 



I have always found that piling is a very- satisfactory method of 

 propaf:fating pansies, where the blossoms are really fine. This operation 

 should be performed yearly, in the month of Auf^uat, and the pipings 

 should be planted, as Mrs. Davidson stiggests, in a bed exposed to the 

 north, and protected by a pot, or a bo.x; with a sliding glass top. This, 

 latter may be made any convenient size, and I have found it very 

 useful for protecting a variety of plants, especially the choicer and 

 tender vegetable plants, when first removed from the hot-bed. After 

 the pipings have taken root they may be potted. The pansy, however, 

 ought to be able to stand any amount of cold, as it is, I believe, a 

 native of Siberia. 



Another suggestion I would offer, is not to plant pansies in the 

 same place, even for two consecutive years ; they like constant change. 

 Perfect drainage, especially if the soil be not percolating, is essential 

 to their health, fis the chief disease they suffer from is rotteness or 

 decay in the roots. 



I have never seen pansy blossoms in Canada anything like as large 

 as those that are found in English gardens, — -why, I cannot tell. I 

 recollect, however, that a friend of mine, who was a great pansy fancier, 

 usually rejected all but about a dozen plants from his bed of seedlings 

 some yards square, after the appearance of the blossoms. He used to- 

 say that the pansy had as many " points" as a horse. 



THE CULTUPtE OF HOUSE PLANTS. 



BY N. ROBERTSON, GOVERNMENT GROUNDS, OTTAWA, ONT. 



Almost daily I receive letters enquiring about treatment of plants,, 

 and having visited many of the complaining parties, I find that the 

 troubles arise from various causes, for the prevention and treatment of 

 which T will endeavor to explain with as much simplicity as possible. 



The prevailing practice seems to be potting with old worn-out soil 

 from tbe garden, with little nourishment, hard, stiff and full of insect 

 life. Others use black muck from a swarap, or surface soil from th& 



