90 heart's-ease or pansy. [April. 
good without sand. Having the ground in proper order, draw 
drills about four inches deep and eighteen inches apart; plant 
the bulbs (after divesting thein of their oif-sets) nine inches 
apart in a row, covering the crown of the bulb about an 
inch and a half. When done, carefully rake and finish off 
the beds. When they shoot up their flower-stems, give them 
neat rods for their support. Plant the off-sets in closer rows 
to produce flowering-roots for next year, because they seldom 
flower the second time. 
ON THE CULTURE OF THE HEART S-EASE OR PANSY 
(VIOLA TRICOLOR). 
The simplicity and striking beauty of this lovely little 
flower have attracted notice from the earliest floral times, but 
it is only within these few years that it has come into high 
estimation as a florist's flower. Indeed, when the figures and 
descriptive characters of these " little gems " came first from 
England to this country, we were almost induced to believe 
they were exaggerated " pictures of fancy," till we actually 
cultivated them within these last two years, in our own 
parterre, upwards of two inches in diameter. 
They delight in a situation partially shaded from the hot 
rays of the sun, either fully exposed to the morning rays till 
ten o'clock, or the afternoon sun from three o'clock ; a soil 
composed of four parts good loam and one part thoroughly 
rotted manure, or three parts loam and one part decayed 
leaves, not less than one foot deep : the soil must not be 
more elevated than the surrounding surface, as they like a 
good supply of moisture. If they are to be cultivated from 
seeds, they should be thinly sown about the first of the month, 
or about the end of August or first of September, and very 
lightly covered with tine soil, giving them very frequent 
waterings in dry weather. Those sown now will bloom in 
July, and very profusely in the autumn ; but those sown in 
the latter period will not bloom till early the following spring. 
When any very esteemed variety is raised, it should be pro- 
pagated, which is very easily done, either by layers or cut- 
tings, and sometimes by division of the root, but the two 
former methods are preferable. The best time for laying is 
about the first of September : an inch or two of the soil may 
