■J2 ACTA HORTI BERGIANI. BAND 2. NIO 7. 



two — viz. »Ne plus ultra» and J. Blrlev's »Lord Durham» — the fiowers 

 of which are almost perfectly circular. 



In the beginning of the forties the interest for pansies rose to such a 

 pitch that special horticultural societies were formed solely devoted to this plant. 

 The Hammersmith Heartsease Society held its first Pansy Show in 1841 

 and continued them for a long course of years. At the present time (1893) 

 it has been succeeded by a society having the same objects in view called 

 The London Pansy and Viola Society. In 1845 The Scottish Pansy 

 Society was formed in Edinburgh, which has shown such vitality that from 

 that day tili now it has continued its activity with great success. 



By these two pansy societies, formed in the forties, certain demands were 

 made on the pansy fiowers which were to be complied with before the flower 

 could obtain a prize at the shows. The principal demands were: 



1) The fiowers should be circular. 



2) The petals should be even, thick, and velvety. 



3) The colour should be either but one (»Selfs») or eise but two (»Beited 

 Flowers»). 



But besides these, several other more detailed demands were enumerated, 

 and — curious to reläte — these demands were fully conformed to in a large 

 number of varieties raised at that time Indeed for about twenty years these 

 show pansies reigned almost supreme in Britain. All other varieties produced 

 by the pansy-raisers were discarded and ruthlessly destroyed. 



The effects of this partiality in time, of course, became apparent. How- 

 ever interested the British public might still be for the charming fiowers of the 

 forties, it must at last become evident that the numerous so-called new varie- 

 ties continually appearing were, in fact, but a constant repetition of the five 

 well-known types 1 ). The need of a change in this respect began to be more 

 and more obvious. 



Salvation then came to this lovely English flower from France and Bcl- 

 gium in the form of an entirely new class of pansies, viz. the so-called Bel- 

 gian or Fancy Pansies. Here we find just what is wanting in the Show Pansy 

 viz. great variety of colouring, the brilliant colours being prevalent, and a 

 distribution of colour not only aecording to the old well-known scheine, but 

 also on a number of others that agreeably appeal to our inherent love of 

 beauty. 



In the early thirties the English pansy was introduced into France, and 

 was there eultivated by skilful horticulturists who took great pains in further 

 improving it. Among these pansy-raisers let me mention Miellez of Lille and 

 Iames Odier, the owner of Bellevue Castle near Paris. From the latter come 

 the Odier Pansies remarkable for the enormous development of the blotches 

 on the three lower petals which is so characteristic of the fancy pansies of the 

 present day, and specially for those belonging to the Cassier, Bugnot, and 

 Trimardeau classes. 



In Belgium they also strove to improve the English pansies in the thirties, 



') 1. Yellow Ground Varieties; 2. White Ground Varieties; 3. Yellow Sclfs;' 4. White 

 Selfs; 5. Dark Selfs. 



