FA NSTE^ LORE. 



not advisable to let them freeze too much, as they are 

 liable to be heaved. When severe weather comes, bank 

 up around the box, and cover the glass at night with 

 matting or boards. Pansies may remain snowed up two 

 or three weeks without injury if care is taken to expose 

 them gradually to the light, when warm weather comes 

 again. 



At the end of February or early in March the plants 

 should be taken up and transplanted into other boxes, 

 setting them about three inches apart each way and 

 watering them with manure water at every favorable 

 opportunity. They grow very rapidly in sunshine ; and 

 care must be taken not to keep the glass on too long, 

 as the plants will be drawn up, and will become too 

 slender. Covering with boards, even on freezing nights 

 in March, is sufficient protection. 



When time to set out-doors, remove the plants with 

 as much earth adhering to them as possible, and plant 

 in soil that is rich with manure, and will retain moisture. 

 Plants in sunshine flower more profusely, are of more 

 substance, and bloom longer than when planted in shade. 

 Pansies never ought to get dry, so that a mulching of 

 well rotted stable manure, of an inch or so deep, will 

 assist them greatly, and they will require a great deal 

 less watering and care when so treated. They can be 

 kept over winter, and if boxed up and protected with 

 glass, they will repay the little expense necessary with 

 many lovely flowers at every warm spell. 



Pansies sown in the manner described will produce 

 plants that bloom the entire summer, but they must be 

 kindly treated and watched in order to thrive and do 

 well. Pinch off all seed pods as soon as they appear ; 

 work the ground between the plants, so that it remains 

 loose and soft ; and give the roots plenty of space in 

 which to seek food. They will then do their best to re- 

 pay one for all the care bestowed. 



It is better to buy seed every year from some responsi- 

 ble seed firm ; the seed you save is apt to degenerate and 

 produce smaller flowers each season, while the new 

 colors and markings are missed. In order to get pansies 

 early in spring the seeds must be sown in a hot-bed in 

 January or February, or in the house in boxes made 

 purposely for them. The plants are not so robust as 

 those wintered over, and they usually come in bloom 

 considerably later. The seed sprouts more readily when 

 the air is cool, and the earth retains moisture much 

 longer in autumn than in spring time. Plants grown in 

 houses or hot-beds require watering and transplanting 

 while very young, as soon as they get their second or 

 third leaf, otherwise they soon run up and make weak 

 plants. By all means try fall sown seed for healthy, 

 robust plants. — Willard Barringer, Montgomery Co. 



Pansy Adaptability, — The general principle of pan- 

 sy culture, modified by climate and soil, is substantially 

 the same in all places. Tbe pansy attains its greatest 

 perfection in the cool, moist climate of Great Britain and 

 neighboring countries. In pansy seed, the more expen- 

 sive the better. Although you may grow thrifty plants 

 and large blossoms, you can no more expect flowers of 



539 



rich texture and fine markings from cheap seed than 

 Jersey cream from a scrub cow. 



Fill a box or flower-pot with some damp sifted soil. 

 Smooth it over, and with the edge of a piece of quarter 

 inch board make drills half an inch deep. Sow your 

 seed thinly in these drills and level the surface of the 

 soil, pressing it firmly. Then sprinkle on enough water 

 to make the surface wet, but not muddy. If the water 

 is poured in it will cut the soil and make the surface 

 uneven. Cover with a piece of glass or board (the seeds 

 do not need light until the shoots appear) to keep the 

 moisture in, but do not allow this cover to rest on the 

 soil. Set the box in a temperature of 60° to 70° ; near 

 the floor in an ordinary sitting room is about right If 

 the seeds are well watered when sowed they will not 

 need sprinkling more than once or twice before the 

 seed leaves appear, in 12 or 14 days. If the tempera- 

 ture is high enough to start them sooner the plants 

 will be weak. 



When the second leaves are well grown the plants are 

 large enough to transplant ; there are no side roots to 

 bother and the plants will not be disturbed by the 

 change. Transplant into boxes four inches deep and 

 set the plants 2/4 inches apart each way, in a soil of one- 

 sixth sand, one-fourth loam and the rest well-rotted cow 

 manure, sifted together. Thrust the plants in up to the 

 seed leaves, pack the earth around the stems and water 

 to settle the soil. Cover with glass, leaving space for 

 air to enter, and as the strength of the plants depends 

 upon slow growth, set to the light in a temperature con- 

 stantly at about 60° ; keep moderately damp. 



In this latitude — 44 — seed sown about February 15 

 will produce plants large enough to blossom when the 

 weather will allow them to be set in open ground. The 

 time of sowing must be varied for localities farther 

 south. The location for a pansy bed is the north side 

 of a solitary tree, where it will have shade at noonday. 

 If among many trees or protected by buildings the free 

 passage of air is stopped, and the plants grow spindling 

 or are inclined to rot. The soil should have a good 

 dressing of rotted cow manure well worked in. During 

 July and August pinch back the stems and let the plants 

 have a partial rest. By doing this the plants will stool 

 at the roots, and when the cool nights of September 

 come will blossom profusely. If there is a choice plant 

 in your collection, from which you wish to save seed, 

 pinch out the leader of the stem and allow only one or 

 two pods to go to seed on that plant. But saving seed, 

 if continued for many seasons, does not pay, as the 

 blossoms on the plants raised from such seed all bear a 

 close resemblance to each other. 



When the plants look well in fall it is a great tempta- 

 tion to try to winter them in the house. Plants thus 

 treated become the prey of the aphis and red spider, 

 and rarely amount to anything worth the trouble of tak- 

 ing them in. — Jane Nisbit, Minnesota . 



A Northern Bed of Pansies, — The pansy is 

 particular about only a few things, but those few it must 



