V. B. WITTROCK, DH ODLADK PENSÉERNAS HISTORIA. 7 1 



belong the two species just mentioned, as a rule are more or less fertile, while 

 hybrids of species belonging to other sections are generally sterile. 



Reliable statements prove that dating from 1816 Viola altaica Ker, a 

 native of Siberia and the Caucasus, was cultivated in England. It is more 

 than probable that this species played some slight role in producing some of 

 the pansies of those days. Several authors have even ascribed so much im- 

 portance to the part played by Viola altaica in the origin of the pansies that 

 they consider it their real parent. This is, however, in my opinion, a mistake, 

 as, with the exception of bearing large flowers, the pansies of our Century have 

 scarcely a single characteristic in common with Viola altaica and this species 

 seems always to have been — as it still is — a great rarity in European 

 gardens. 



During the twenties and the thirties the cultivation of pansies became 

 more and more general in England. J. Harrison teils us that from 1827 to 

 1833 nearly 200 new varieties of pansies were raised, while Charles Darwin 

 relätes that in 1835 there were 400 named varieties of the pansy on sale in 

 England. 



An account of the then demands on »a good Heartsease» was given 

 by J. Paxton in 1834. »The flower stem must be of sufficient height and 

 strength to raise the flower above the foliage of the plant; the petals of the 

 flower large, flat, and without notch or fringe on the edge. The colours 

 must be clear, brilliant, and permanent. The eye should be small compared 

 with the size of the flower.» 



In the thirties, one of the favourite flowers of the English was the pansy, 

 which competed with the rose itself for populär favour. Both distinguished 

 amateurs and talented nurserymen devoted themselves to the cultivation of the 

 pansy, and gained the one success after the other. The English horticultural 

 societies offered prizes for the finest flowers. Every nobleman, every owner 

 of an estate wished to have their special collection of pansies, and the nusery- 

 men, who were well rewarded for their pains, did everything they could to 

 keep alive the interest of the public by constantly producing new varieties. 

 In the middle of the thirties the price of new but good varieties was 5 sh. a 

 plant, and for specially excellent ones a far higher price was paid; { £ \o was 

 offered for the seedling of »Metropolitan» and refused. 



Those varieties raised from 1S20 to 1836 certainly possessed larger and 

 more brilliantly coloured flowers than their wild ancestors, but as regards the 

 form of the flower no change had been made, it being still more or less elon- 

 gated in the same way as in the wild Viola tricolor L. or V. lutea Huds. 

 During the latter half of the thirties however, a change took place, as, dating 

 from 1836, the first object of the British pansy-raisers was to get the flowers 

 as circular as possible. In »The Floricultural Cabinet and Florist's Magazine» 

 of the above-mentioned year, this quality is described as more to be desired 

 than all others, and but a couple of years had elapsed before this ideal was 

 attained. The Magazine just mentioned of 1838 and 1839 contains several 

 figures representing new varieties of pansies, and among these we find at least 



