218 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



or four well marked varieties of it. Its leading forms are simply 

 known as the red and the white. It is at once distinguished from 

 the sweet pea, aside from its perennial nature, by the many-flowered 

 clusters, the verv lar^e standard, the thick and stiff texture of the 

 scentless flowers, the broad and strongly veined leaflets, and the 

 broad hairless pods. It is an excellent hardy plant for a mixed 

 border or for clambering over rocks'or other low objects. I have 

 several plants of it growing against a tennis screen, and they bloom 

 most profusely in late spring and early summer. It is a profuse 

 seeder, and the pods should not be allowed to form if continued 

 bloom is desired. It propagates readily by seeds and by cuttings. 



Where and How to Grow Sweet Peas. 



The sweet pea is such an unconventional and domestic flower 

 that it is unsuited to formal beds or to an obtrusive position on the 

 lawn. It is one of those flowers which we enjoy the more if it is 

 somewhat hidden from the public view, and is restricted to the 

 more private and personal parts of the grounds. It is preeminently 

 a flower for the back yard. A rear or side border, against a fence 

 or other background, is a good position for it. The plant is always 

 attractive when seen clambering over bushes, but it rarely thrives 

 well when planted close under shrubbei-y unless it is grown in a box 

 or large pot of rich earth plunged into the ground, to remove it 

 from the competition of the roots. If one is to raise a considerable 

 quantity of sweet peas, they may be planted in rows and allowed to 

 run up a screen of chicken-wire ; or, if one can take the pains to tie 

 them occasionally, a trellis may be made of four or five strands of 

 fence-wire, like a half-size grape trellis. On good soil most varieties 

 will reach a height of four or five feet. 



If sw^eet peas are to continue to bloom throughout the season, 

 the soil must be rich and capable of holding moisture. A thin, 

 dry soil will not grow good peas. In light soils it is well to apply 

 a liberal dressing of manure to the soil in the fall, plowing it 

 under very early in the spring; and in addition to this, a dressing 

 of some concentrated fertilizer in the spring will be useful. But 

 the chief thing is moisture. The land must be well and deeply 

 fitted, to increase its water-holding capacity. It is ordinarily ad- 

 vised to till the soil frequently after the peas are planted until they 



