Decorah-posten., 1898-05-13
PanSies.

PaDSies.
II there is a corner in the gar
den where the sun shines unit.
noon, and then the shadows cover
Il for the afternoon, that is jus,
the place to make a pansy bed
Dig out the old soil, deeply, and
then turn the sods upside down on
the bottom of the whole.
If near the woods where Leaf
mold can be found. then have a
generous supply brought and mix
ing one-quarter of old well-slfted
manure. one-eigth wood ashes or
SCOT. and the last eighth garden
soil: fiji the excavation full so
that by allowing for the setting
the bed will be Just a little above
the surrounding sod. Let it be
for a week and then set out the
seeding plants, a loot apart each
wav, hrming them we'll in.
Seed sown in the house in April
should bloom in June; but much
the easier way is to get the plants
from the florist, as they will bios
som earlier, and a be set out in
Nav if raised in a cold frame.
Seed sown in the bed in August
will bring sturdy little plants to
grow on and stay out all winter
with slight covering, and bloom
early the following spring.
Pansies delight in light rich
earth, and at least once a week the
soil should be loosened around
the plants and a rough watering
given after the sun leaves the bed.
BY keeping the withered blossoms
cut, and preventing seed forming,
a continuance of bloom can be
retained all summer.
AT times a plant will stretch out
and be inclined to grow 'leggy'
and sprawl considerably. This can
be remedied by taking the plant
up and setting it in again a couple
OF inches deeper than it was be-
fore, thus holding the ungraceful
branches up in better shape.
The Giant Excelsior strain and
the Imperial German give the
largest flowers. OF the latter there
are over a dozen named varieties
that are particularly fine. The
marble, striped and spotted kinds
are odd as we'll as beautiful. This
is an especially strong growing
strain and will stand the hot days
OF midsummer unusually WE'LL
(The Mayfower).
THE SCARLET PANSIES.
We saw them advertised in sew
eral periodicals last spring. One
could not naturally pass such a
novel advertisement by without
further investigation, so we
investigated, and the result was
that within a week or so we pos
sessed a plump packet of the
seed.
March 9th they were sowed in
a clean, shallow cigar box, which
was nearly full of soil composed
of manure and common garden
loan. After m~oistening the dirt
quite thoroughly the box was set
in the sunniest locality of our
window garden, first putting over
the top of II a wet ink blotter,
such as comes with writing tablets.
This was kept saturated with water
all the the time. On sunny days
it was removed so that the seed
lings could have a short sun bath.
In about twenty days every
seed had sprouted and was doing
its best. May sd, they were trans
planted from their rather cramped
quarters to a bed of very rich,
loose soil composed mainly of
manure), planting them about FIVE
inches apart each way. After
watering them thoroughly and
protecting them from the suns
hot rays for a short time they re-
sumed their growing, and on June
9Th gave up their first great, fresh,
dewy bloom.
And such a beauty! 1t was
very large-for US completely
covering a silver dollar, and of a
solid, thick substance. The color
was a rich scarlet-mahogany, the
upper petals being a few shades
lighter than the lower ones. The
next plant to bloom was a dull
brown-maroon color with a we'll
defined rufle of bright yellow
around the two upper petals. 1t
also had yellow eyes and whiskers.
Then there was one of a reddish
purple color, very bizarre and
pleasing; and one that was colored
dun red with fine white streaks
running through its petals, which
were unusually full and ragged.
Nearly every day our pansy bed
gave US a new blossom of some
odd and fantastic shape of red.