Rural School Leaflet. 1025 



4. When and how to sow. — The Sweet-peas should be put in just as 

 soon as the ground can be dug, even before frosts are passed. Yet 

 good results can be had if the seeds are put in as late as the loth of 

 May. In the Sweet-pea garden at Cornell last year, we sowed the 

 seeds on the 20th of April. This was about right. The year before, we 

 sowed them about the 30th. If sown very early, they are likely to 

 bloom better, but they may be gone before the middle of September. 

 The blooming can be much prolonged if the flowers are cut as soon as 

 they begin to fade. 



Plant Sweet-peas deep, — two or three or sometimes even four inches. 

 When the plants are a few inches high, pull out a part of them so that 

 they will not stand nearer together than six inches in the row. It is 

 a good plan to sow Sweet-peas in double rows, — that is, put two rows 

 only five or six inches apart, — and stick the brush or place the chicken- 

 wire support between them. 



China Asters may be sown from the middle of May to the first of 

 June. In one large test at Cornell, we sowed them the 4th of June 

 and had good success; but this is rather later than we would advise. 

 The China Asters are autumn flowers, and they should be in their prime 

 in September and early October. 



Sow the Aster seed shallow, — not more than a half-inch deep. The 

 tall kinds of Asters should have at least a foot between the plants in the 

 row, and the dwarf kinds six to eight inches. 



Sometimes China Asters have rusty or yellow spots on the under- 

 sides of their leaves. This is a fungous disease. If it appears, have 

 your father make some ammoniacal carbonate of copper solution and 

 then spray them with it; or Bordeaux mixture will do just as well or 

 better, only that it discolors the leaves and flowers. 



5. What varieties to choose. — In the first place, do not plant too much. 

 A garden which looks very small when the pussy willows come out and 

 the frogs begin to peep, is pretty big in the hot days of July. A garden 

 four feet wide and twenty feet long, half Sweet-peas and half Asters, 

 is about as big as most boys and girls will take care of. 



In the next place, do not get too many varieties. Four or five kinds 

 each of peas and Asters will be enough. Buy the named varieties, — 

 that is, those of known colors, — not the mixed packets. If you are 

 very fond of reds, then choose the reddest kinds; but it is well to put 

 in at least three colors. The varieties which please you may not please 

 me or your neighbor, so that I cannot advise you what to get. 



Of China Asters, the Comet type — in various colors — will probably 

 give the most satisfaction. They are mostly large growing kinds. 

 Other excellent kinds are the Perfection and Peony-flowered, Semple or 

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