272 THE FLOWER-GARDEN, [chap. viii. 
and those from V. bicolor are white, slightly 
veined with purple, and tinged with yellow 
at the base. All these vary exceedingly by 
continual crossings, but some of the charac¬ 
teristics of the parents always remain. 
The culture of the heartsease requires much 
attention. It is the habit of the plant to 
ripen a succession of seed during the whole 
of its flowering season : thus it bears flowers 
and ripe seeds at the same time during the 
whole summer. The seeds should be sown 
in a bed of rich garden mould, at least 
eighteen inches deep, and highly manured, 
and the young plants should be suffered to 
remain till they have flowered, when all the 
plants should be taken up, the best replanted 
eighteen inches apart if in a bed, or in pots 
or boxes, and the inferior ones thrown away. 
The best soil for replanting the heartsease, 
particularly if they are in pots or boxes, is 
rich loam, mixed with one-sixth of sand and 
one-sixth of vegetable mould; and in large 
towns, all these soils may be purchased in 
small quantities from the nurserymen. The 
pots and boxes should also be well drained; 
for it must be remembered, that though the 
