736 



EXPERIMENTAL^ FIRMS 



7 GEORGE V, A. 1917 

 GARNET CHILI POTATOES FROM DIFFERENT GROWERS. 



SWEET PEA. 



Sweet peas grow well on the ordinary garden soil provided it is drained so that 

 water will not lie on the surface after heavy spring rains. A sunny location should 

 be chosen. Plants grown in a shady situation are usually weak and produce few 

 flowers. A close bright situation with little air circulation, where the plants are sub- 

 ject to the extreme midday heat of summer, should be avoided. The sweet pea likes a 

 cool moist soil during the summer and every effort should be put forward to furnish 

 these conditions if good bloom is to be secured. 



The ground used for these flowers at Kentville, which is a sandy loam, is pre- 

 pared by trenching to a depth of 12 inches and about 15 inches wide. The top 6 inches 

 of soil is kept separate from the subsoil. Into this trench 5 inches of manure is scat- 

 tered and this is worked over a little by mixing it with about half of the subsoil re- 

 moved, after which the manure and soil is packed somewhat by tramping. The sur- 

 face soil is then put on about 4 inches deep and this is mixed with some well rotted 

 fi.ne manure. Two ounces of ground limestone, 1 ounce of slag, and 1 ounce of bone 

 meal is then added to each yard of trench and well worked into the soil. The seed is 

 then planted by running out a drill about 2 inches deep and the seed is covered about 

 one inch. 



As the plants develop earth is gradually worked up around the plants until the 

 trench is filled level, and as the summer heat becomes great a mulch of litter, or strawy 

 horse manure, is placed each side of the row of plants. This holds the moisture and 

 keeps the roots cool on our light soils. 



Tests have been made during the past two years of plants started in pots in the 

 greenhouse and planted out as compared with those started in the open ground. For 

 this work four varieties have been used, King Edward Spencer (Red), King White 

 (White), Countess Spencer (Pink), and Tennant Spencer (Lavender). Beatrice 

 Spencer (White), was used in place of King White in 1914, These are five excellent 

 varieties. ^ , ♦ 



Ten 4-inch pots of each variety were seeded with from 5 to 6 seeds and the plants 

 were later thinned out to three plants to a pot. When set to the open ground the earth 

 in which the plants were growing was not broken, thus preventing any check in growth, 

 and the contents of each pot were placed one foot apart in the row, the top about one 

 inch below the surface. The plants were well hardened off by allowing them to remain 

 in the cold frame and in the open a week before planting. The early sown plants were 

 about Y to 8 inches high and the later sown ones 5 to 6 inches high when set out. In 

 order to support the plants in the pots small twigs are stuck into the soil. It will be 

 seen that this method of getting early bloom is one well worth recommending and the 

 work attached to it is not very great. The plants grown in pots were set in the open 



Kentville 



