104 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



As remarked above, a sandy loam is the jwoper soil for 

 the pansy. This may be enriched with leaf-mould and 

 rotten hotbed manure for the production of fine flowers, 

 but a soil rank with fresh manure is not fit for pansies ; 

 they require a deep moist roothold, but will never thrive 

 in contact with powerful stimulants. The necessity for 

 humidity is all-important ; but mere damp is as injurious 

 to pansies as to other flowers, and therefore good drainage 

 is essential both for plants in beds and plants in pots. 

 The show kinds and the best of the fancy pansies make 

 beautiful pot-plants when carefully cultivated, and there 

 is no flower more likely to gratify a painstaking amateur 

 who has no ambition to become a competing florist than 

 the fancy pansy grown in pots as a frame plant. The 

 frame secures for the fancy pansy, under suitable manage- 

 ment, the moist and comparatively pure air it so much loves. 



