PANSIES AI^D VIOLAS. 



317 



full glare of the sun from eleven to three o'clock will make named 

 Pansies unhappy. Select, then, a position in the garden where the 

 plants will enjoy themselves, and you will be amply repaid. Prepare 

 the ground in autumn by deep cultivation, enriching liberally with 

 half -decomposed cowdung if it can be had. Fork over the surface in 

 January or February. Take the plants from the cold frames in March 

 with as much soil adhering to the roots as possible, and, with careful 

 attention to watering and other details, splendid flowers will be had 

 during most of the summer. To obtain fine strong plants for spring 

 jilanting, cuttings should be inserted in cold frames in a shady position 

 from July onwards to September, and named varieties should certainly 

 be allowed to winter in frames. 



Now about varieties. I think, if I give twelve or eighteen names of 

 reliable varieties, that will be enough for those who are not exhibitors. 

 ' Hugh Mitchell,' ' Archie Milloy,' ' Holroyd Paul,' ' Hall Eobertson,' 

 ' Mrs. E. P. Butler,' ' John Picken,' ' Mrs. A. Ireland,' ' Mrs. James 

 Smith,' 'Mrs. H. Stewart,' 'Miss Neil,' 'Miss A. B. Douglas,' 

 'Margaret Fife' (fig. 114), ' Eobert McCaughie,' 'Mrs. Campbell' 

 (yellow), ' Thos. Stevenson,' ' James McNab,' ' Neil McKay,' ' Eev. 

 D. E. Williamson.' These are fine sorts and good growers. 



The Raising of Pa^isies from Seed. — This is perhaps the best way of 

 all for those who desire a good display, as seedlings are always hardier 

 than plants from cuttings, and they may be planted out with safety in 

 most places in autumn, thus ensuring a longer period of blooming. 

 From May onwards seed may be sown according to the treatment it is 

 intended to give the seedlings. If sowing is to be done out of doors or 

 in a cold frame, I should recommend the end of May. If to be sown 

 in boxes in a greenhouse and carefully looked after, a month later will 

 be time enough. The great object to be aimed at is to obtain by the end 

 of September fine strong, stubby plants with three or four shoots break- 

 ing at the base and well rooted. From the seed boxes or seed bed the 

 plants ought to be transplanted once, say, in August. Eesults will 

 depend much on the quality of the seed sown, and everyone should make 

 sure of obtaining a high-grade article. Let me say that cheap Pansy seed 

 cannot be good. It is exceedingly difficult to save Pansy seed in quantity 

 in this country, and we are therefore dependent to a large extent on 

 foreign seed. To give an idea of the range in quality, wholesale firms 

 like Benary arid Vilmorin quote Pansy seed as low as Is. and as high 

 as 505. the ounce. Genuine home-saved seed from named varieties is 

 always difficult to procure, but the highest grade of foreign seed will 

 give excellent results. 



Two years ago I saw several large beds of Pansies in the garden of 

 Mr. Walsh, the schoolmaster of Birch, in Essex. I never saw stronger, 

 healthier Pansy plants in my life. They were seedlings which Mr. 

 Walsh told me he sowed in boxes placed under a north wall on June 27th 

 the year previous, transplanted into a bed facing west early in August, 

 and finally planted where they were to flower at the end of September. 

 Before planting out several had thrown flowers, but these were picked 



VOL. XXXVI. Y 



