GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



OF AMERICA 



DEVOTED TO THE SCIENCE OF FLORICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE 



ADOPTED AS THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GARDENERS 



Vol. XVI. 



JULY, 1913. 



Xo. 9. 



Sweet Peas in the Garden 



/N I. »v 



The sweet pea can adapt itself to a variety of 

 locations, but a position which provides for plenty 

 of light and air at all times with a little shade from 

 the midday suns is to be preferred. Plants grown 

 in too much shade are usually weak and spindling 

 with but few flowers. The drying summer suns tend 

 to shorten the blooming period and also cause certain 

 colors to fade. The effects of drought can be largely 

 overcome, however, by early planting and by deep 

 and thorough preparation of tiie soil. In seasons when 

 the conditions are especially favorable sweet peas can 

 be grown with fairly good results with no more prep- 

 aration than is given ordinary vegetable ground, 

 writes the Department of Agriculture in a recent bul- 

 letin. But as Prof. A. C. Beal writes in a recent bul- 

 letin of the Cornell station, "uniformly, year after 

 year, the sweet peas with the strongest root systems 

 will produce the finest flowers during the longest 

 period." Vigorous root development can best be 

 secured by planting just as early in the spring as the 

 soil is dry enough to work, while the atmospheric con- 

 ditions are such as to retard or even to prevent top 

 growth for several weeks. 



Any ordinary garden soil is suitable for sweet peas, 

 provided it is well drained. Since sowing should be 

 done at the earliest possible date, the soil should pref- 

 erably be prepared in the autumn. 



The soil should be broken up to a depth of 15 inches 

 to two feet, and on some soils even deeper. Unless 

 the soil is very uniform in composition, it is disastrous 

 to bring the bottom soil to the surface; but this should 

 be turned over in the trench, mixing with it, if heavy 

 and compact, rather coarse stable manure or litter. 

 Sometimes leaves are available for placing in the bot- 

 tom of the trench. The use of these materials in sub- 

 soil promotes drainage, as well as improves the sail. 



If a good layer (four inches) of half-rotted stable 

 or cow manure is placed between the top and bottom 

 spadefuls, and the top soil, if heavy, made light with 

 old manure, an excellent preparation has been made. 

 The office of the manure is not only to increase the 

 store of plant food, but also to increase the water- 

 holding power. 



An application of bone meal at the rate of 1 ounce 

 per yard of trench, as well as a good dusting of air- 

 slaked lime applied while working the soil in the 

 autumn will both prove beneficial. The lime will not 

 only correct any acid condition existing in the soil, but 

 it will also aid in releasing the residual plant food of 

 the soil. 



Certain white-flowered sweet peas have ligiit- 

 colored seeds, while others have black seeds. The 

 white seeds frequently split in the pod before- harvest- 



ing and are likely soon to lose their vitality if planted 

 early when the soil is cold. Hence the white seeds 

 should be sown rather thicker than, or not so deep as, 

 the black seed. In the sweet-pea plantings at Cornell 

 it has been found that an ounce of seed will plant 50 

 to 60 feet of row, and if the seed is good it should 

 plant still more. This allows for one seed to every 

 two inches. 



In some seasons sweet-pea seeds are slow in germ- 

 inating. It is well to examine such seeds in order to 

 ascertain their condition. If the seeds are found 

 dormant but still fresh and plump, the seed coats 

 should be cut with a sharp knife and replanted, when 

 they will germinate well. This difficulty is not con- 

 fined to the sweet pea, but some of the other Lathyri 

 behave similarly. The trouble usually follows a very 

 hot, dry season, when the seed becomes so excessively 

 ripened as to render the seed coat impervious to water. 

 Sometimes, in order to expedite germination, the seeds 

 are soaked. 



For fall planting the preparation of the soil is the 

 same as that already described, except that the soil 

 is firmed and the trench filled level. On this a trench, 

 or furrow, two inches deep is made, and the peas are 

 planted at least as close as one seed every two inches. 

 The row should be slightly ridged up so as to prevent 

 water from standing and, as stated in the beginning, 

 it is essential that the location be on a well-drained 

 site. When the ground freezes a mulch of manure is 

 placed over the row. In the spring when the bright 

 weather comes the plants should be examined in order 

 to see whether the)' are growing or whether the soil 

 is soggy and cold. In either case the mulch should 

 be removed from over the row and should be left in 

 the center so that, in case an^-^ weather should come 

 when tlie safety of the plants is at all endangered, the 

 old mulch may easily be applied to protect them. 



The seed of the standard varieties of sweet peas is 

 cheap, and the advantage gained in obtaining early 

 flowers, if the ]ilaiits survive the winter, is worth the 

 efi'ort. 



Sl'RI.vr, PLANTING. 



As soon as the frost is out of the ground and the 

 soil in workable condition in the spring, a heavy ap- 

 plication of superphosphate of lime should be made and 

 raked in. Care should be exercised not to get the 

 soil too loose, and for this reason it is best to confine 

 all stirring of the soil to smoothing the surface. Espe- 

 cially is this true with liglit soils, which, if stirred 

 deeply in the spring, must be well firmed. Heavy soils 

 that are likely to bake may be improved b}' working 

 in a light dressing of old. thoroughly rotted manure. 



One method recommended is to hollow out a broad 



