WHAT TO PLANT 
35 
when they are two or three inches high I thin them out 
until they stand about four inches apart; they will grow 
very rapidly. As soon as the blooms appear, alJ that are 
not satisfactory are pulled up. The richest purple, the 
purest white, the most intense crimson, the most glowing 
scarlet, the softest lavender, and the rosiest pinks will de¬ 
light your eyes, and there will be no long, straggling stems 
or ugly patches of burnt-up soil visible, but masses of color 
and foliage, and material all summer long for innumerable 
bouquets.” 
No lover of flowers should fail to have a bed of pansies, 
as, aside from their beauty, they will thrive in shady places 
where scarcely any other plant will blossom. The north¬ 
east side of the house is therefore the place for the pansy 
bed, where the ground should be made as mellow as possi¬ 
ble, and mixed with at least one half of the richest stable 
manure. The seed should have been sown in a box the 
previous autumn, and the young plants protected from 
freezing during the winter. 
Pansies may be grown from cuttings, with greater cer¬ 
tainty of producing fine flowers, and their growth is much 
more rapid. But the smallest plants produce the largest 
blossoms ; and after reaching a certain size, unless there 
is a rigorous pinching of shoots, the blossoms will deteri¬ 
orate. The cuttings should be planted in sand, and will be 
fit for transplanting in about six weeks. 
When pansies have bloomed steadily for a couple of 
months, the branches should be well cut down and the 
plants mulched with old cow manure ; they will then make 
their finest show of blossoms in the early autumn. 
Violets are closely allied to pansies, and make up for 
their less showy appearance by their delicious odor, of 
which, like that of the arbutus, one can scarcely get enough. 
They need a rich, strong soil, and thrive best with fowl 
manure, do not like too much sun, and require plenty of 
