Winter-flowering Sweet Peas 627 



culture under glass 



The house 



Winter-flowering sweet peas grow six to ten or more feet high, and if 

 they are to attain their full development a house with this amount of 

 headroom is required. They also need all the light they can get, as the 

 lighter the house, the more blooms there will be. Low or dark houses 

 are not practicable. 



Solid beds. — Sweet peas may be grown on benches, but solid beds are 

 better since the plants require a deep, moist, cool soil. The roots should 

 be given an opportunity to go down, by properly preparing the soil two 

 or three feet in depth. With this depth of prepared soil it is imperative 

 that the beds have good drainage, for oversaturation is detrimental to 

 the young plants and any tendency to keep them in this state brings on 

 sourness, which is fatal to sweet peas. Having the beds raised at least 

 one foot above the walks will assist in keeping the soil uniformly sweet. 



When planning to grow sweet peas under glass in solid beds, the house 

 should be cleared as early as possible. Trench the soil two feet deep. 

 If the beds have been manured annually, the bottom soil may be brought 

 to the surface. In new houses, in case the beds are to be raised a foot, 

 trench the soil eighteen to twenty-four inches deep if it is a good loam; 

 if not, remove the soil and fill the beds with good soil. This gives an 

 additional foot of loosened soil when the bed is full, but it is needed for 

 additional drainage. In turning this original soil in a new bed, apply 

 a heavy coat of good decomposed cow manure in the trench. Then 

 spread on top a three-inch coat of manure and fill in with the .prepared 

 soil. In the old beds, put a three-inch layer of manure in the bottom 

 of the trench and another about a foot below the top. The soil should 

 remain thus until about the time for sowing; if a month or more inter- 

 venes, it is much better. At this time fork over the top layer one foot 

 deep, which mixes the upper layer of manure with the surface soil. 



Benches.— While good crops of sweet peas may be grown on benches, 

 yet they require more care than when in beds. The sweet pea is frequently 

 grown as a crop to succeed chrysanthemums, particularly by those florists 

 who do not devote a great amount of space to pot plants. In order to 

 have flowers for Christmas, the early chrysanthemums should be cleared 

 from the house by October 20 and the space filled with good sweet pea 

 plants transplanted from pots. 



The seed 



Only good, strong-germinating seed should be used, and the best for 

 the purpose is the outdoor-grown stock of this type. If the grower raises 

 his own seed for the earliest planting, that from outdoor fall-sown plants 



