Winter-flowering Sweet Peas 629 



the early plantings. One reason why water should not be applied too 

 near the plants is that they are especially subject to damping off. This 

 trouble becomes more prevalent in October and November, when there 

 are more cloudy days, cool nights, and Hke conditions. Because of this, 

 no soil shotdd be heaped around the stem. 



Time to plant 



When a good crop of sweet peas is desired for Christmas, the seed should 

 be sown the 20th of August. When sown September i the plants will 

 flower in January; when sown September 15 the main crop will be in 

 February; and when sown in October the crop will be ready in March. 

 November sowings flower in the latter part of March ; December sowings 

 in April ; January sowings in April and May ; February sowings from May 

 I on; and a March sowing in May or June. This gives the time when 

 a reasonable crop can be expected, although flowers will be cut, especially 

 with certain varieties, in a shorter interval than that given. 



Some of the varieties in the tests at this station, sown October 20 and 

 benched December 20, gave flowers during the last week in January, 

 but not freely until about March. Some sown November 20 and benched 

 December 20 began flowering in February and gave an abundance in 

 March. Seed sown in beds September 24 this year gave flowers on Thanks- 

 giving Day, although during the whole month of November there was not 

 one clear day and there were only two partly clear days. 



Supports 



As soon as the peas are up, a support must be furnished. This may 

 consist of string, wire and string, or wire netting. When string is used 

 it is stretched lengthwise on each side of the row and fastened to stakes on 

 the purlin posts. The wire-and-string support consists of wires stretched 

 over the row\ one near the ground and another eight to ten feet above it; 

 between these, string is stretched lengthwise every ten inches, and per- 

 pendicular strings connect the top and bottom wires. 



Wire netting is condemned by commercial growers. They maintain 

 that the vines do not cling to it, so that just as much tying is needed; 

 and, besides, more crooked stems occur than when the vines are trained 

 on string. At this station, however, all the methods have been tried 

 and the wire netting has been found preferable. 



Temperature 



Keep the temperature in the early stage as low as possible, giving full 

 ventilation, day and night, as late as possible without freezing. The 



