Winter Meeting. 339 



sweet peas where it is impossible to give the trench free drainage, dig 

 a sink hole at the lowest point in the trench and after a heavy rain 

 bail the water ont with a bucket. I throw up my sweet peas ground 

 in the fall or winter into ridges four feet apart, leaving it in just the 

 condition that ground is in after it has been listed to corn. I then 

 spade the bottoms of the ditches as deep as I can drive a long-bladed 

 spade, leaving the ground lying as loose as possible for the frost, the 

 flower growers' best friend as well as one of his worst enemies, to 

 penetrate. Ground left thus will be dry enough for planting ten days 

 ahead of ground that must be spaded in the spring. The past season 

 I had heavy clay ground dry enough to plant sweet peas on March i, 

 and did plant them, getting a perfect stand. My main crop I planted 

 March 8, but I think I should have gained something of earliness, and 

 therefore length of season, by planting the entire crop March i. I plant 

 a double row in the bottom of each trench, with a foot between. One 

 trelHs then does for two rows. The earliest sweet pea, contrary to the 

 general rule, is of much general value as well as early, and is worth 

 planting by everyone, whether for home flowers or for market. Its 

 name is like its nature, Earliest of All. It is a very early Blanche 

 Ferry — not so tall of growth nor so large of flower, but as prolific of 

 bloom and of as long season, with flowers of as good substance and of the 

 same delicate pink and white. From Earliest of All, planted on March 

 I, I picked the first blooms on May 11, ten weeks, and by Decoration 

 Day, when the earliest of the standard sorts were just beginning to 

 show color, the season of bloom of the Earliest of All was at its 

 heighth. About the earliest of the standard sweetpeas is a white 

 Emily Henderson, which I am almost ready to say, with its originator, 

 is the best all around white sweet pea. The vines are of vigorous 

 growth, the stems of good length and strength, the flowers come very 

 generally in threes and stand well after cutting. The only fault I have 

 found with it is that it seems especially susceptible to damage by lice. 

 If there is another white sweet pea as good as Einily Henderson 

 it is the Blanche Burpee, which no one will make a mistake in planting. 

 Then there is the Dorothy Eckford, which promises to be a most 

 valuable sort. There are newer white sorts that are advertised as being 

 better than any of the ones I have mentioned, but I am "from Missouri" 

 on that point. 



The best lavender pea that I have discovered is Countess of 

 Radnor, which has the one serious fault that when dry weather begins to 

 pinch, the flowers come too frequently only one on a stem. The variety 

 has the very great merit, however, of holding the true lavender 



