76 THE ASSOCIATIONS OF FLOWERS 
CHAPTER IV. 
Hear! s-ease — Wild Species of this Flower — Flower Shows 
— Diference between the Florist and the Botanist — 
Origin of various Names of the Heard s-ease. 
“The Pansy freaked with jet.” — Milton, 
It is not customary, in popular language, to term the 
heart’s-ease a violet ; yet such it really is. Two species 
of the pansy violet grow wild in Great Britain. This 
flower and the dahlia seem to have taken the place in 
the esteem of the florist, once engaged by the auricula 
and tulip; and its culture has, of late years, received 
great attention. The large and handsome varieties now 
produced, so beautiful in colour, so well shaped, and in 
many cases so fragrant of violet odour, prove that the 
flower is well worth the care bestowed upon it. The 
frequent occurrence of flower-shows in our large towns, 
has had a great effect of exciting attention to its improve- 
ment ; and few of our floral ornaments are exhibited 
more often on these occasions, when so much pleasure is 
given to the lover of flowers, and so much encouragement 
to their skilful cultivators. 
Flowers, it is true, can never be seen to so great an 
advantage as when beheld blooming in the garden or on 
the country landscape, when they are accompanied by so 
many things that are beautiful on the green earth, and 
where a blue sky is over all. Besides, a nosegay, how- 
ever tastefully disposed, will not allow the unrestrained 
display of that gracefulness of arrangement in the leaves 
and stems of flowers, which is peculiar to each when 
viewed singly. We shall perhaps in a few years see at 
