70 ACTA HORTI BF.RGIANI. BAND 2. NIO J. 



the sixteenth to the eighteenth Century more large flowering kinds were cultiva 

 ted, even if but seldom, of Viola lutea Huds., growing in the mountainous 

 districts of Germany, Switzerland, and England. C. Clusius, the renowned 

 botanist, in 1583 gave the first description of this plant from specimens cultivat- 

 ed in the gardens of J. Camerarius of Nuremberg. In the celebrated Bishop's 

 Garden, at Eichstett in Bavaria, four varieties of large-flowered V lutea pansies 

 were cultivated in 1613, all being delineated in the gigantic »Hortus Eystettensis». 



J. Parkinson mentions »the great yellow Pansie» as under cultivation in 

 England in 1629. 



From Holland and Poland there are also Statements concerning the cultiva- 

 tion of large flowering pansies in the seventeenth Century, doubtless Viola lutea. 



That this species was cultivated in England during the eighteenth Century 

 is proved by a Statement by Ph. Miller in »The Gardener's Dictionary». 

 Miller certainly calls the pansy in question V. calcarata, but as he expressly 

 states that it carae from the mountainous districts of North Britain and Wales, 

 there can be no doubt that the true V. lutea Huds. is really meant. Viola 

 calcarata, as is well known, is not found in Great Britain, being a native of 

 the Alps. 



All the pansies of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries may 

 be called wild pansies, as in all essential points they resembled those grow- 

 ing wild; and it is only in the present Century that, thanks to the action of 

 man, those numerous varieties of garden pansies have been produced which 

 in their display of flowers so vastly surpass their wild relations. 



The Pansies of the present day are originally natives of England. In 

 the early days of the present Century several amateur horticulturists in England 

 began to pay special attention to the pansy, as for instance Lady Mary Bennet 

 of Walton-on-Thames (1810), Lady Monke (1S12), and Lord Gambier of Iver 

 (18 13 or 18 14) who instructed their several gardeners — of whom Thomson 

 of Iver deserves special mention — to obtain as many varieties of wild and 

 cultivated pansies as possible. Seeding was now undertaken on a large scale 

 in specially suitable soil, and from the seedlings thus obtained those with the 

 largest and most beautiful flowers were selected; and continued selection was 

 made in this way year after year. By these means no small number of un- 

 usually beautiful and large flowering varieties were obtained, which were undoubt- 

 edly largely hybrids, that, without any intervention from man, were produced 

 by insects which, on visiting the flowers of the different varieties and species 

 cultivated side by side, caused a rieh cross-fertilization. The species of Viola 

 cultivated were those native to England viz. the common heartsease, Viola tri- 

 color L., and the yellow large flowering Viola, V. lutea Huds. 



The last mentioned was cultivated on a large scale at an early date, as 

 is proved by a statement made in 18 19 by Sir William Herbert, the well- 

 known horticulturist and botanist, that »the great heartsease», which under the 

 name of Viola grandiflora was then sold at Covent Garden, was identical with 

 V. lutea Huds. from Yorkshire and Durham. 



A circumstance specially favourable for the formation of new varieties of 

 pansies is that the hybrids of species of that section (Melanium) to which 



