584 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 17, 1890. 
s^oSUCiT^WS^. 
_ 
Fancy Pansies. 
In your “ Current Topics ” of May 10 th, you allude to 
large quantities of very fine and beautiful fancy 
Pansies finding their way into the London flower 
market. As I was the first person to take the fancy 
Pansy in hand in 1858, when Mr. Andrew Henderson 
met with a few striking varieties at Lille, I rejoice to 
know this ; and if the great beauty of these and our 
bedding Violas were better known, they would be very 
much more cultivated. You speak of 3 d. or id. each 
as being good prices, but it must be borne in mind that 
the cultivator does not get this. There is a consider¬ 
able amount of trouble and expense in growing them 
in the way you have described, and then there is the 
trouble of “mossing” or “grassing them up,” and 
sending to market. 
My impression is that varieties of sterling merit will 
always command good prices. It is so in the Bir¬ 
mingham Market Hall certainly, where inferior kinds, 
such as the poor strain of seedlings often seen, scarcely 
find customers ; but to secure good prices, the plants 
should be well grown and mossed up, and got into the 
market in March and April. Here, in the midlands, 
and the north, late planting of Pansies—that is, in 
May and June—is very detrimental to success, as the 
plants cannot get good root-hold before hot weather sets 
in, and the result is much smaller and inferior flowers 
—out of character—with often sickly growth, and fre¬ 
quently death of the plant. In the south, early planting 
is very necessary, and a shady situation preferable. If 
Pansies and Violas can be planted out in March, or 
early in April—the earlier the better—the roots get a 
hold of the soil and the plants go ahead. "When early 
autumn planting can be done, that is far the best, but 
not in cold wet soils and situations. 
The Pansy is a very hardy plant which must have 
plenty of air, and no coddling whatever, and will stand 
frost well if kept dry, but it likes shelter from cold, 
blistering east winds. In less favourable parts of the 
country they are safest wintered in dry well-aired 
frames, and planted out so as to be near the glass, but an 
abundance of air should be given, never covering the 
frame with mats or any other material. Ventilation is 
the great need, but in very severe weather or under a 
heavy snow the frame can be shut up. Pansies winter 
well under the south side of a wall, planted close 
together, and transplanted in March or early in April. 
Violas should also have the same treatment. 
For market work many of our grand exhibition 
varieties are most valuable, having large well-formed 
flowers of great substance, and bright colours. To be 
exhibition flowers they must be “up to the mark,” and 
should possess these properties, and such are Allan 
Ashcroft, Campbell Bannerman, Collingsburg, Donald 
Morrison, Harry Bell, John Pope, Jessie Buddie, John 
Lamont, Lord Rosebery, My Lady, May Tate, Miss 
French, Mrs. Dobbie, Mrs. John Downie, Mrs. G. P. 
Frame, Mrs. Browell, Mrs. Duncan, Mrs. John Ellis, 
Mrs. Pearson, Mrs. Philp, extra fine ; Neil McKay, 
Piirig, Princess Beatrice, Tom Bell, "William Dean, 
and "William Dick. Now, these are only a very few 
fine varieties which I name as good selling and telling 
market varieties. I could add many more, as I have a 
collection of about 120 of the finest varieties in cultiva¬ 
tion, and I have discarded many good varieties still 
held in esteem by many, but as my object now in 
writing a few words is in reference to market varieties, 
I need not give a longer list of names. If selecting 
twenty-four or thirty-six varieties for an amateur to 
grow for exhibition purposes, I should alter the list 
somewhat, although beginners would not go far wrong 
in starting with the sorts I have named. I find that 
the fancy Pansy is fast growing in popularity, and the 
cheapening of priceshas had a great deal to do with it, and 
now that amateurs can buy really fine varieties at 3s. 
and 4s. per dozen, and newer sorts at a moderate price, 
growers increase. 
In order to succeed with Pansies, however, it must be 
distinctly understood that early planting is a sine qud 
non, and in the southern districts of England, selecting 
a place, if possible, shaded from the heat of the sun for 
four or five hours midday. A good, and even stiffish 
loamy soil, if possible, with plenty of good rotted dung 
dug iD, is necessary, planting rather deep, and not 
hesitating to bury part of the young growth when the 
plants are long. They should be mulched with very 
rotten manure or coarse leaf-soil, and watered freely in 
dry weather. 
It will be as well hire to say a few words about 
watering. There is an old, fantastic, but deeply rooted 
notion that watering plants when the sun is shining 
on them is most dangerous to the plants. I am often 
surprised to find this opinion exist to an alarming 
extent, and is shared by many gardeners, or so-called 
gardeners. To all who still have this belief I say, try 
the effect of watering overhead even in hot sunshine, 
and see the result. It is similar to that after a thunder¬ 
storm followed by brilliant sunshine. Many a plant 
receives its death blow from not receiving water under 
the flagging influence of excessive heat, because stupid 
prejudice stops the way. 
"VYe see in the advertising columns of our gardening 
papers, and in catalogues, advertisements as to the 
wonderful continental varieties of Pansies, and I am 
free to admit that many are beautiful in colour, and 
the flowers are large and handsome ; but I have never 
yet been able to select one from the many collections 
I have seen, which, in form and substance, combined 
with other good qualities, I could add to my collection 
of our grand British raised varieties. Our splendid 
Scotch raised sorts are infinitely superior, and cannot 
be beaten ; and each year superb new varieties are 
being introduced, but these have to be selected from a 
host of new kinds sent out every year in order to get 
decided improvements on sorts we already have, or 
valuable additions to them. 
I see by the American gardening papers that our 
friends across the Atlantic are taking up Pansies in 
earnest, and one grower advertises his strain as superior 
to others in the States. Through the kindness of a 
friend, I have just sown 500 seeds sent to me of this 
“celebrated” strain, direct from the grower, with 
accompanying printed matter, and after a perusal of it, 
I am inclined to believe that I shall find my old 
German friends again. I recommend our market 
growers to obtain plants early in the autumn of a few 
of the very best market varieties, and grow them on 
for stock, and for obtaining seeds from.— IV. Dean, 
Sparkkill, Birmingham. 
Lancashire Hero Polyanthus. 
I SEE that Mr. Richard Boardman, Mount Pleasant 
Nurseries, Lowton, Lancashire, is offering this black- 
ground and gold-laced Polyanthus. I saw it exhibited a 
few years ago at Manchester, and was much pleased with 
it, though the Lancashire exhibitors say it is uncertain 
and apt to become coarse. Perhaps this is the reason 
why it is so little shown ; still, it is worth growing, 
and plants can be had at a comparatively low price. 
Now is a good time of the year to get them, potting 
them in small pots in a good compost, plunging the 
pots to their rims in cocoa fibre on a cool border, and 
not giving water for a few days. In suitable localities 
and soils the safest plan will be to plant in the open, 
taking care to select a spot a good deal shaded from the 
midday sun. Polyanthuses and Auriculas both, when 
potted, should be in a compost that is fairly moist, 
and have no water for a week at least, until the roots 
become active. I think that rot frequently ensues 
from too much water being given before the roots can 
utilise it. The Rev. F. D. Horner always presses home 
two points in connection with the potting of Auriculas 
—viz., “to plant firmly, and not to water newly potted 
plants until they plainly ask for it”; this they will 
do by the foliage beginning to show signs of flagging. 
— R. D. 
Polyanthus, Tortoiseshell. 
This is a double variety of the gold-laced section, quite 
distinct from Rex Theodore or the old double black. I 
got a plant from Scotland last autumn, not being quite 
sure what it was, and now it proves to be double. My 
plant has done well, but the flowers expand very slowly 
indeed, and so long are they in becoming fully 
expanded, that the flowers decay before they arrive at 
this stage. Still, it is a floral curiosity, and I am 
frequently asked for it. Mr. Blair, florist, of Cork, 
sent me some flowers a few days ago—the best I have 
ever seen. He has a large stock of it, and. the plants 
appear to do well in that locality. My plant is in a pot; 
it would soon die in the open ground with me.— R. D. 
Early Tulips. 
Some very fine varieties of early Tulips were recently 
shown at one of the meetings of the Royal Botanic 
Society by Messrs. Barr & Son, King Street, Covent 
Garden. One named David Tenniers was very fine, 
white with a yellow base, stout, and of the best form ; 
La Latiere, white, of the same character but smaller ; 
Adetive, rich pieony-rose with a yellow base, a very 
fine self variety ; Blanche Hative, double white, quite 
distinct ; De Keyser, rich bright crimson, very fine 
indeed ; and Dussart, in the same way, but deeper in 
colour and very fine. In the collection were some 
blooms of the well-known variety, Keizer Kroon, of 
wonderful size and beauty. I think those who make a 
specialty of early Tulips, will find the foregoing well 
worthy their attention.— R. D. 
Begonia, Duke of Sutherland.— This is a single 
variety, of a brilliant carmine-red, and orbicular in out¬ 
line ; but the inner petals are considerably the smaller. 
The leaves are narrower, and of a lighter green shade. 
It was exhibited at the spring show of the Royal 
Botanic Society on the 23rd ult. by Messrs. H. Cannell 
& Sons, Swanley, Kent, and was awarded a Floricul- 
tural Certificate. 
