ON THE HEARTSEASE, OR PANSY. 
147 
small man may present a model of the human form in its highest 
perfection ; but, nevertheless, the additional stature and bulk of 
another, united with an equal proportion of parts, may invest him 
with undeniable superiority. 
With regard to the arrangement of colour, it must, upon all 
hands, be admitted, that much, if not the whole, depends on taste. 
We are quite of opinion that uniformity of ground colour is highly 
desirable, although seldom attained except in the lighter varieties 
bred from Thomson’s Victoria and flowers of that class. An 
equal distribution of colour is also much to be desired, and many 
a variety is comparatively of little value, because there is not a 
sufficiency of colour in the centre and lower petals to correspond 
with the richness of the upper petals : this imparts an appearance 
of poverty to the flower, which detracts greatly from its merit. 
The lines of the eye should in every case be clear, rich, and full. 
Such an eye, for instance, as is presented by Argo, the yellow 
variety figured in this Number, is highly desirable, and especially 
in dark flowers. In our large dark flowers, the eye is almost 
invariably defective ; and a few rich mulberry, maroon, plum, and 
other dark flowers, with a clear white ground and a thorough-bred 
Victoria eye, are greatly to be desired. It is scarcely necessary 
to remark, that clearness, vividness, and intensity, are the grand 
desiderata in the colours themselves. 
With respect to the culture of the pansy, we write with 
great diffidence, and would rather the responsibility attaching 
to this part of the subject had fallen upon one more competent to 
perform the task with credit to himself and advantage to his 
readers. 
As regards soil, we may remark that the pansy thrives best 
in a strong rich loam, not a stiff retentive soil, but sandy and well 
drained. On such a soil but little manure is necessary, and per¬ 
haps a little exhausted tan may be found more congenial to the 
plant than a rich manure, which would excite an unnatural and 
straggling growth, with proportionally small blooms. A dry 
gravelly soil is perhaps the most uncongenial; and we should re¬ 
commend, under such circumstances, that the natural soil should 
be removed to the depth of a foot or eighteen inches ; the bottom 
and sides of the pit well lined with clay, and then filled with good 
virgin loam of the desired quality. The usual time for dividing 
and planting out is the end of September and the month of October. 
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