168 



HORTICULTURE 



August 7, 1915 



SWEET PEA CULTURE. 



In the couse of a lengthy paper on 

 the Sweet Pea read before the Ameri- 

 can Sweet Pea Society, at Newport, 

 R. I., on July 15, J. Harrison Dick had 

 the following to say regarding the 

 modern methods of culture of the 

 Sweet Pea. 



A successful English gardener 

 summed up the routine of Sweet Pea 

 culture in the following words: 

 "Trench deeply, manure liberally, 

 plant thinly, stake quickly, water ear- 

 ly, and dispod promptly." 



I offer the following as my conclu- 

 sions as to the most essential points 

 in Sweet Pea cultivation for summer 

 blooms namely, planting as early as 

 it is at all safe to do so. The Sweet 

 Pea is a hardy annual, withstanding 

 very severe weather, and requires a 

 long season for its early root growth 

 in order to strike deeply and so secure 

 a supply of moisture and nourishment 

 during the hot days of summer. The 

 second point I would emphasize is the 

 need of entire liberty and freedom for 

 each plant. One of the most fatal 

 things is to cause attenuated growth, 

 or to prevent the maximum develop- 

 ment of leaf and stem growth; these 

 build up a robust, disease-resistive 

 plant, and lay the foundation for 

 large, long-stemmed, solid, bright col- 

 ored, fragrant blooms. Thirdly, I 

 think all tendrils or nearly all, should 

 be nipped off at an early stage, to- 

 gether with quite a considerable 

 amount of lateral growth, but not all. 

 Given enough space, a number of 

 branches may be allowed to develop, 

 the laterals from them however, being 

 nipped. Fourthly, the need of the ut- 

 most care in keeping the plants free 

 of aphis or other insect pests from 

 the start. Aphis is far more dangerous 

 than most of us are aware of. No 

 carnation grower would for a moment 

 neglect fumigating or spraying if he 

 desired anything like a successful crop 

 of first-class blooms. A few aphids in 

 the growing point of a shoot will do 

 enough harm in a couple of days to 

 upset the energies of a healthy vine 

 for some time, and may have paved 

 a way for the entrance of disease 

 germs. As to feeding and watering, 

 they are largely subsidiary, although 

 the manuring of the ground ought to 

 receive careful attention at the time 

 of digging and trenching: afterward, 

 very little feeding should be necessary 

 and watering must be done with judici- 

 ous care. The late Henry Eckford 

 never watered his peas at all I be- 

 lieve, but relied upon surface cultiva- 

 tion. Water, however, may be neces- 

 sary occasionally, then a thorough 

 soaking of all the ground should be 

 given. 



Work for the Future. 

 The sweet pea is a plastic flower, 

 else it could never have created such 

 world wide interest. It has a future 

 as large as the United States — and 

 that is literally true, for although it 

 is grown in every state and territory. 



we want to feel that it is not only 

 grown and prized in every state, but 

 in every section and in every suburban 

 homeplot. There is a great and grand 

 field to be tilled, in a double sense, by 

 the American Sweet Pea Society, 

 which certainly won't be neglected. 

 Yet in the progress of time if the 

 fragrance of our flower gradually di- 

 minishes and is only known to poster- 

 ity through the records of today, who 

 shall bear the blame? The Sweet Pea 

 scentless! What a travesty and trag- 

 edy. Yet again, whose could be the 

 blame? The raisers, the growers? No, 

 only our Sweet Pea Society which 

 awarded 25 points to a novelty for 

 length of stem, 25 for color, 20 for 

 size, 15 for substance, 15 for number 

 of flowers on a stem and not one for 

 fragrance! But we will prefer to re- 

 gard this as too hypothetical to be- 

 come a fact. 



Those who know most about the 

 sweet pea are the most optimistic as 

 to the possibility of its further de- 

 velopment. As a society w-e have be- 

 fore us the improvement of the 

 doubles: the strengthening of the Win- 

 ter Spencers; the Ijetterment of the 

 Cupids; the quest of a blue that will 

 equal Salvia patens; a yellow that will 

 rival the Buttercup. We have, indeed, 

 as much work as will keep us all busy 

 for the next ten years. Then we can 

 take stock again. 



spraying with ammoniacal carbonate 

 solution, which can be made by dis- 

 solving one ounce of copper carbonate 

 in a pint of ammonia. To every gallon 

 of water add half an ounce and spray 

 your asters every ten days. They 

 should be sprayed from the time they 

 are planted out up till they flower. 

 John J. M. Farrell 



BEGONIA AND ASTER TROUBLES. 



Editor IKIltTtCfLTfKK: 



Will .vol! please ask .Mr. F.irrell what i-- 

 tbe cause of the buds on potted tuberous- 

 rooted Begonias dropping off just as tliey 

 seem read.v to open. Tiie.v are in 7-incli 

 pots with good soil, bays been in tbe shade 

 with plenty of moisture: would too much 

 shade, too nuieh moisture or too rich soli 

 cause it? Plants are large and look 

 healthy. I also have trouble with I^ale 

 Branching Asters, of which a great many 

 are coming "blind" this year. Tbe crown 

 turns white and leaves are wrinkled and 

 misshapen. If Mr. Farrell will answer in 

 an early Issue of HORTICDLTURE I will 

 be extremely obliged. 



Yours very truly, 



T. A. L. 



Mass. 



In answer to the foregoing inquiry 1 

 would say that the dropping of buds on 

 tuberous-rooted begonias can be traced 

 to a good many causes. Poor drainage 

 which will always result in a cold and 

 .over-wet soil will cause the trouble. 

 Overwatering in any kind of soil 

 should always be guarded against, as 

 well as letting them become too dry 

 at the roots. Either of these extremes 

 will make the buds drop. Again the 

 dropping can be caused by excessive 

 plant food in the compost or by heavy 

 liquid feeding which will produce very 

 h'ealthy looking foliage but to the de- 

 ferioration of right bud formation. 

 Too heavy shading would also cause 

 the trouble. Which of these applies in 

 this instance will have to be found out 

 by the grower and then means taken 

 to overcome it. Judicious waterin.g, 

 ventilation, etc.. will in the end place 

 the plants in better condition to digest 

 the food that is in the soil. Do not 

 keep the air of the house too moist 

 as it always causes the plants to make 

 a very soft growth, which is not good 

 for the flowering. Your asters arc 

 probably troubled with aster blight. 

 It can only be prevented by timely 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 

 National Sweet Peas. 

 There was an excellent and varied 

 display at the 15th annual show of the 

 National Sweet Pea Society, held in 

 London, on July 13th. The Burpee 

 Cup presented to the Society by W. 

 Atlee Burpee & Co., for a display of 

 waved sweet peas, only attracted one 

 competitor. Miss Baird, St. James, 

 West Malvern. For a bunch of seed- 

 ling sweet peas not in commerce 15 

 competitors entered novelties. The 

 prize was awarded to Dr. Hammond T. 

 Hinton, Heytesbury. Wilts, for J. B. 

 Lowe, a variety with scarlet standards 

 and pink wines. Awards of merit were 

 made to the following new varieties: 

 Tea Rose, buff and deep cream, and 

 JIargaret Fife, heliotrope with blue 

 wings, from A. Malcom, Duns, Scot- 

 land. Victory, mauve, from R. Bolton, 

 Warton, Carnforth. Lancashire. Dora, 

 scarlet and cream, from Dobbie & Co., 

 Edinburgh. The new introductions 

 seen at the trials in Essex and at the 

 show indicate that the specialists are 

 still doing their utmost to excel all 

 past efforts. Mrs. E. Wright, exhibited 

 by R. Bolton, is a bold bloom, of the 

 waved section, with a pure white 

 ground. The wings and standards are 

 edged with deep lavender blue. Old 

 Rose (Dobbie & Co.) is a useful addi- 

 tion to the varieties which lend them- 

 selves to table decorations. The Presi- 

 dent (A. Dickson & Sons) is an excel- 

 lent orange scarlet. Cream Ground 

 Mrs. Cuthbertson (E. W. King & Co.) 

 has a delightful combination of apple 

 blossom red over a neam giound. Con- 

 stance Acomb (Robert Sydenham, 

 Ltd.,) has a cream ground, the wings 

 and standard being suffused with lilac. 

 Carnation Show. 

 The National Carnation and Picotee 

 Society held its annual show in Lon- 

 don, on July 22nd. The show was 

 smaller than usual. The production 

 of new fancies, bizarres and flakes still 

 continues, and some very charming 

 combinations of tints have been ob- 

 tained by the hybridists. 



Editor HORTICULTURE: 



Dear Sir — Please find enclosed a 

 check for Two Dollars to pay for your 

 paper beginning June 1st, 1915, for two 

 years. I find HORTICULTURE very 

 interesting and instructive. Wishing 

 you every success in your endeavors to 

 accomplish such an up-to-date paper. 

 Yours truly, 



J. W. S. 



Mass. 



