PANSY 



that is sold in our markets to-day. Such sizes, such combinations 

 of colors, such weirdness of expression in quaint faces painted 

 upon the petals were never known before. The colors now 

 run a marvellous range: pure-white, pure-yellow deepening to 

 orange and darkening to brown, as well as a 

 bewildering variety of blues and purples 

 and violets. The lowest note is a rich and 

 velvety shade that we speak of as black, but 

 there is no black in flowers. 



Our garden treatment of the Pansy leaves 

 much to be desired. We set out beds of 

 blooming plants in April and for a short time 

 they are dreams of beauty; the plants are 

 then either taken up or allowed to deteriorate 

 and slowly to perish. The theory seems to 

 be that as our summers are hot and may be 

 dry, no Pansy bed can survive, so the little 

 beauties are permitted to die or are killed outright. But with 

 proper selection of location a Pansy bed will be a pleasure all 

 summer long. The place must be shaded, given the morning sun, 

 but sheltered from that of noonday and afternoon; the lea of a 

 tree or a building is good, and frequent sprinklings are needed to 

 keep the foliage moist. A clay well enriched will grow the largest 

 flowers, but any good garden soil will do. These should be 

 continually picked otherwise the bed deteriorates. 



The Pansy is the flower for all. It is cheap, it is hardy, it is 

 beautiful; and its beauty is of an unusual and personal kind. 

 The bright, cheerful, wistful, or roguish faces look up at you with 

 so much apparent intelligence that it is hard to believe it is all a 

 pathetic fallacy and there is nothing there. 



Garden Pansy 



30-I 



