628 Bulletin 319 



is preferable; otherwise it will alwa^^s pay to purchase stock from the 

 specialists who produce seed under California conditions. Seed procured 

 near the end of the season from exhausted greenhouse-grown plants often 

 germinates poorly or produces weak plants. Sometimes, even though 

 the seedlings start off fairly well, they later exhibit constitutional weakness. 



If the steam pipes are on the side walls, plant the first row of seeds 

 five feet from them. If the rows nm east and west, plant the others 

 five feet apart; if the rows run north and south, space them three feet 

 apart. Make the drills one or one and a half inch deep, and drop the 

 seeds one to one and a half inch apart. Cover the depth of the drill, 

 and keep the surface level. 



Solving 



The winter-flowering varieties may be sown in the beds or benches 

 where they are to stand, or they may be sown in pots. The former method 

 gives the better results.* A day or two before planting, the beds should 

 be thoroughly saturated with water; William Sim, the most extensive 

 grower, advises a strong dose of liquid manure instead. As soon as the 

 top has dried off so as to be in a good friable condition, plant the seed. 

 The varieties with white seeds are best sown in sand; or, as Mr. Zvolanek 

 advises, soak the seeds for ten hours in water, scatter in flats, and allow 

 to remain for two days or until the seeds begin to swell. The seeds may 

 then be sown in moderately dry soil in the same way as other varieties. 

 The white-seeded varieties, more than any others, require careful attention 

 in the watering. 



Watering 



If the soil has been saturated before planting, no more water should 

 be applied for perhaps a week, or only when the soil is no longer moist 

 three inches below the surface. When a thorough watering is not applied 

 first, and the seed is sown and watered in, as a rule not enough water 

 is given to saturate the soil very deep. The result is that the plant con- 

 fines its root area to this shallov/ moist layer and does not root deeply. 

 It therefore suffers from extremes, and any lack of moisture is followed by 

 a check from which it never recovers. On the other hand, if the prepara- 

 tory watering is given and water withheld until there is need of it, the 

 roots strike downward into moist and cooler soil where they overcome, 

 as far as possible, the effects of the hot days. The sweet pea must be 

 kept growing steadily from the day the seed is sown. When water is 

 needed, do not apply near the plants, but between the rows, where it 

 should be given liberally. This treatment is especially important with 



* One large grower sows the seed in flats or benches, in sand, transplanting the seedlings as soon as the 

 upper side root is one half inch long. Two plants are placed in each two-and-a-half-inch pot. These 

 are planted, four pots to one foot of row, in the greenhouse. 



