SwBET Peas. 55 



stable manures, and the plants ran to vine. The sweet pea is 

 one of that class of plants (the leguminous) which appropriates 

 nitrogen for itself, and heavy applications of nitrogen are there- 

 fore not needed. Another type of complaints was to the effect 

 that young plants died after having made a good growth of sev- 

 eral inches. Inquiry revealed the fact that in every case the 

 plants had been frequently watered from a watering pot. Just 

 enough water had been applied to keep the surface of the ground 

 soggy, and the plants had damped-oflf. Plant lovers should 

 remember that one good watering which wets the ground clear 

 down is worth a dozen dribblings. It is rare that a sweet pea 

 bed should be watered oftener than once a week in good soil ; and 

 if the seeds are got in early, a frequent stirring of the surface 

 soil with hoe or rake is better than watering at all. 



In the forcing of sweet peas we have made two tests in a very 

 small way. A year ago we sowed seeds in a bench in a chrysan- 

 themum house on October 24, and they began to bloom Feb. 20, 

 and continued to blossom well for six weeks. The bloom was not 

 so profuse as it is out of doors, but the flowers were just as large 

 and handsome and fragrant. Fig. 23 shows a corner of sweet 

 peas as they looked early in March. We also had a most profuse 

 bloom in a row forty feet long during last April, May and June. 

 The seeds were sown in pots, and when chrysanthemums were 

 taken off (from a solid bed) on December 10, the peas were turned 

 into the soil from 2^ -inch pots. They were blooming freely when 

 sweet peas were quoted as high as carnations. Last fall we sowed 

 seeds in the same house September 8 in a solid bed. The plants 

 grew well, and a single truss opened on November 30. The 

 weather then closed in for a characteristic Ithaca winter, and the 

 sun did not shine again for a full day for two months, and no 

 other flowers appeared until early in February. If the weather 

 had remained bright, I see no reason why we should not have had 

 good flowers for Christmas. 



The history and something of the evolution of the sweet pea are 

 traced in our Bulletin iii ; but Rev. W. T. Hutchins, Indian 

 Orchard, Mass., a long-time student of the flower, has given me 

 his conception of the evolution of the modern varieties in a 

 graphic form, which is here reproduced : 



