424 
March 2 , 1895 . 
THE GARDENING WOR 
PANSIES AND VIOLAS.* 
Early History. 
The earliest English names I can find for the Pansy 
are Pances, Hartes’ Ease, and Love-in-idleness. The 
first is borrowed from the French pensee, a thought, 
idea, or sentiment, and it is also applied by the 
French to the Pansy. Heartsease, a common English 
name, may have been suggested by the French name; 
that may be the case with Love-in-idleness, but I 
shall here refer you to Shakespeare's explanation of 
it in Midsummer Night's Dream, where the poet makes 
Oberon say :— 
“ Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell: 
It fell upon a little western flower— 
Before, milk-white ; now purple with love’s wound,— 
And maidens call it love-in-idleness ” 
Other English names are Fancy and Tickle-my- 
fancy, which have a cognate relationship with the 
previous ones. Flamy is doubtlessly borrowed from 
the Greek phlox and the Latin flamma and Viola 
dammea, which signify a flame or like a flame. Herb 
Trinity is taken from the old Latin Herba trinitatis. 
Live-in-idleness is evidently a corruption of Love-in 
idleness. Garden Gate, Kiss-me, Kiss-me-at-the- 
garden-gate, Jump-up-and-kiss-me, and Call-me-to- 
you, seem all to have been suggested from the 
manner in which the flowers are all bent upon one 
side, and appear like faces looking at anyone who 
may enter the front garden, that is, the direction in 
which the light reaches them. This face, together 
with the curvature of the flower-stalk, making the 
flower appear in a thoughtful attitude, is most 
probably responsible for most of the above names 
applied to the Pansy, as well as Call-me-to-you. 
Pink-of-my-John I shall not attempt to explain. 
Three-faces-under-a-hood is readily suggested by the 
three blotches in the centre of a large number of 
varieties; we have now sorts with five blotches. In 
quite recent times some admirers and lovers of the 
Pansy, in looking at a partly opened flower with the 
lip still curled up, have imagined it as chuckling up 
its sleeve. 
The learned D. Rembert Dodoens, a German, and 
physician to the Emperor, wrote a New Herbal of all 
the plants used in medicine ; and this was translated 
from French to English, and published in London 
in 1578, contemporary with Shakespeare, and gives 
the name Love-in-idleness, used by the latter. 
Dodoens correctly describes and illustrates the Pansy 
under the name of Viola tricolor, still accepted by 
botanists, and further says :—“ These floures do 
grow in gardens, and there is many of them found 
growing amongst the stubble in corne fields.” There 
is no indication, however, that the Pansy, 317 years 
ago, had undergone any improvement whatever at 
the hands of the cultivator. It is extremely variable, 
however, even in a state of Nature, and extends in 
one form or other over Europe, North Africa, Western 
Asia, and Siberia to North West India. The little 
western flower of the poet is therefore not confined 
to the west. Its wide distribution and quaint, pecu¬ 
liar form have brought it under the eyes of millions 
of human beings for ages past, and the number of 
names it possesses attests its popularity. Words¬ 
worth says :— 
*■ To me the meanest flower that blows can give 
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.” 
And Gray says .— 
" Bright-eyed fancy hovering o'er 
Scatters from her pictured urn, 
Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.” 
And Shakespeare comes to the front again, and puts 
it plainly :— 
*■ There's rosemary, that's for remembrance ; pray 
you, love. 
Remember; and there is pansies, that’s for thoughts.” 
And "thoughts” is practically the name of the 
flower under discussion. 
In 1759 Philip Miller, F.R.S., gardener to the 
Worshipful Company of Apothecaries, at their 
Botanick Gardens, in Chelsea, describes the Pansy 
as the " Creeping three-coloured Garden Violet, 
commonly called Heartease or Pansies,” and said 
that there were many varieties differing greatly in 
size and colour. The large ones vere scented, but 
the small ones scentless. He was unable, however, 
to say whether they were different species or not 
owing to the way they scattered their seeds abroad 
and came up in a mixed state everywhere, thus 
defying him to prove whether seeds from large kinds 
*A paper read by Mr. J. Fraser before the Turnham Green 
Literary and Scientific Society on the icth February. 
give rise to others with large flowers, and small to 
small kinds. We have clear evidence that the Pansy 
had undergone considerable improvement by this 
time, though the physicians’ gardener was unable to 
account for it, nor even recognised that the large 
ones were the offspring of the wild Pansy under 
cultivation. He further goes on to say that self- 
sown seeds came up in the autumn and flowered in 
spring, and those sown at that time kept up a suc¬ 
cession, almost the whole year, particularly should 
the winter following be a mild one. They will flower 
most part of the summer in shady situations, “ which 
renders them worthy of a place in every good gar¬ 
den.” Judging from these facts and from what he 
said about their cultivation and propagation, we 
must acknowledge that his experience and cultural 
knowledge was not particularly far behind ours of 
the present day, except in minor details. 
Coming down to Loudon in 1834, we find that the 
Pansy has been considerably improved from the 
wilding with flowers J in. to 1 in. in diameter. Mr. 
Hogg, a famous florist of those days,gave a list of nearly 
a hundred named kinds, and said that they flowered 
from the beginning of June to the beginning of July, 
after which they halted till they got rain, when they 
commenced again and continued till checked by 
frost. His characteristics of a good flower were 
” large and round petals, the flower forming nearly a 
circle, not much undulated (i| in across is large 
enough, but some are broader) ; colours (brilliant), 
distinct and permanent; eye rather small, and not 
deeply pencilled ; flower stalks strong and straight; 
and the stigma filling the open heart of the eye.” 
The culture was much the same as at present. 
Already we see the designing hand of the florist bind¬ 
ing down the flower to a circular and artificial form 
and to his rigid ideals of perfection in a florist’s 
flower, which his successors in after times not only 
accepted, but applied the rules even more stringently. 
The show Pansy, or true English Pansy of modern 
times, would average about 2 in. in diameter, but 
might be somewhat under or over those dimensions, 
according to cultivation and the particular variety. 
The properties of an ideal or model show Pansy are 
that the form should be circular or as near thereto 
as possible, smooth, not undulated, and of good sub¬ 
stance, so that they may be durable when cut. The 
colours should be distinct, well-defined, and attractive, 
and the eye should be small, circular, without any 
streaks running into it, and of some shade of gold or 
orange. The whole race is divided into three classes, 
namely, seifs, white grounds, and yellow grounds. The 
seifs should be of one uniform colour, regardless of the 
eye. The other two classes may have three blotches 
of moderate size in the centre, with a well-defined 
margin, that is, without streaks proceeding from 
their margins. Around this must be a relatively 
broad area of white or yellow, as the case may be, 
and a clear, well defined belting of some other colour 
forming a broad margin to each petal. 
Somewhere about 1855 a strain of large Pansies 
was sent over from Belgium, and these have since 
become known under the name of Belgian or Fancy 
Pansies. The flowers would measure from 2J in. to 
3J in. in diameter, and for some time were dis¬ 
regarded by the British florist, who looked askance 
upon them as outraging his ideals of a florists’ 
flower; but as time went on they began to be looked 
upon with more and more favour, till now they are 
more popular than the old show varieties, more 
particularly, I believe, in England than in Scotland. 
British florists since that time have been more active 
in raising new and improved forms than the Belgians 
themselves. The fancy Pansies admit a greater 
freedom in the matter of colour, and owing to their 
large size, bold appearance, striking colours, and the 
freedom with which they may bs raised from seed 
and grown in quantity, amateurs have taken kindly 
to them and grow them largely in many gardens. 
When raised from seed they cannot be expected to 
come up to the florist's ideal or standard to which 
he works or at which he aims, yet the amateur can 
enjoy his flowers while disregarding exhibition 
models. 
No classification has yet been made of this type 
although white and yellow seifs are spoken of, yet 
the terms have a different significance than when 
applied to show varieties and are scarcely appro¬ 
priate. The properties of an ideal fancy Pansy are 
much the same as for show kinds, but it must be 
larger and the colours differently arranged. The 
three blotches should be large and well defined, or 
Lt). 
clean cut as the growers say. The rest of the flower 
may be entirely of some other colour, when the 
variety is termed a self. On the other hand, the 
blotches may be edged with a different colour, while 
the lower three petals are laced with white, yellow, 
or some other hue. The lacing is a very constant 
feature of the class. The two upper petals are 
generally of a different hue from the rest and fade to 
a pale margin. 
On the Continent and in America several other 
strains are grown, to which distinct names are given, 
but though they do not conform to the florists’ ideal 
of a fancy Pansy in this country, yet they may all be 
placed under that denomination, as they are generally 
characterised by great size, large blotches, and 
brilliant, attractive colours suitable for garden 
decoration, and doubtless secure hundreds of 
admirers. Some of these strains are—Peacock, of 
velvety-crimson hue, shaded with blue, and edged 
with rose and white; Trimardeau and Odier, or 
blotched Pansies, with three prominent blotches, 
and other bright colours; Roemer’s Superb Giant 
and Lorenz’s Perfection Pansy, with five blotches, 
and a white or pale margin; and Cardinal, with 
crimson blotches and the rest orange-red. 
RAFFLESIA ARNOLDI. 
In reference to Rafflesia I thought perhaps the fol¬ 
lowing extract might be interesting to A. K.:— 
“ During Mr. Arnold’s travels in the Island of 
Sumatra, he discovered in the depth of its forests 
the largest and grandest flower that it is yet known, 
and which now bears its name, the ” Rafflesia 
Arnoldi.” When his native servants called his atten¬ 
tion to this flower growing in the jungle, close by 
their path, which they appropriately called the 
“ wonder wonder,” be beheld a blossom that meas¬ 
ured more than 3 ft. in diameter. Its enormous 
petals were of a bright red colonr, and covered with 
yellow spots. The nectary—in this case a low rim 
at the base of the petals—formed a cup which would 
hold twelve pints of water. He might well have 
supposed that he had found some new gigantic 
plant, of which this formed the bloom, but, on care¬ 
fully examining it, to his great surprise it appeared 
to possess neither root, stem, branch, nor leaf. It 
belonged to that rare order of plants, of which a few 
other species are known, whose members consist 
mainly of one organ—a flower spring up as a para¬ 
site on the low branches of some forest trees. Strictly 
speaking, this plant has a very small root, by which 
it attaches itself as a parasite to the bark of a large 
Vine (Cissus), and also a tiny stem, but both are 
entirely hidden by and altogether out of proportion 
to the enormous flower. It belongs to that curious 
tribe of parasites known as Rhizogens.”— J. L. 
A PINE*WOOD. 
At the present juncture, when so much attention is 
being given to the re-afforestation of our native hills 
and waste places (which were sp ruthlessly devas¬ 
tated many years ago in the early days of a rude 
civilisation), it may not be out of place to give an 
illustration of what is to be aimed at in the produc¬ 
tion of good timber for commercial purposes. 
When a plantation is being formed, the young trees 
are planted at distances varying from 3I ft. to 5 ft. 
apart, according to the richness of thQ soil, and as 
they grow they are gradually thinned out, leaving 
the best to finally occupy the ground and produce 
the best timber. The number per acre to be left 
will depend upon the kind of tree and the fertility 
of the soil. The object in thick planting and keep¬ 
ing the trees much in that condition afterwards is to 
secure straight and upright trunks with small lateral 
branches, so that the wood may be as clean and free 
of knots as possible. For merely ornamental pur¬ 
poses a different plan is pursued, and the trees 
are accorded plenty of space, so as to branch 
regularly on all sides like a pyramid. There is, 
however, real beauty in the rugged grandeur of a 
Pine wood even in winter. The dark, sombre green, 
or the silvery glaucous hue of the foliage of different 
trees contrasts beautifully with the deeply-ribbed 
and brown trunks, or with the brownish-red hue of 
the smooth bark of others. 
The Amateur Orchid Grower’s Guide Book. By H. A. 
Burberry (Orchid Grower to the Rt Hon. J. Chamberlain, 
M.P.). Containing sound, practical intormation and advice 
for Amateurs, giving a List with Cultural Descriptions ot 
those most suitable for Cool-house, Intermediate-house, and 
Warm-house Culture, together with a Calendar of Operations 
and 1 reatment for each Month of the Year. In Cloth (Crown 
8V0.5 by 7J), price 2S. 6 d.; post free, 2s. gd. Publisher, Garden¬ 
ing World, i, Clement's Inn, Strand, London, W C. 
