March 28, 1914 



HORTICULTUEE 



475 



B. Shea, whom everybody lores, was 

 then called upon and was greeted with 

 prolonged applause. He gave a little 

 history of Mr. Pettigrew's great work 

 in tree planting for Boston. He prom- 

 isted on behalf of his associates and 

 the city authorities that Boston would 

 do her best for the Convention. Au- 

 gust Poehlman extended congratula- 

 tion and felicitation on the promising 

 outlook. George Asmus followed in a 

 similar vein and applauded the flower 

 show as one of the greatest horticul- 

 tural forces. 



Wm. Burton, Ed. Kirk. J. A. Peter- 

 son, John E}vans and lastly Thomas 

 Roland had a few brief words. Mr. 

 Roland declared that the convention 

 is only a plaything as compared with 

 the great outdoor garden which is 

 planned as an adjunct this year. 



GROWING SWEET PEAS 



A Paper by Howard Nichols of Yonkers, N. Y.. before the Yonkers 

 Horticultural Society. 



MAIL IMPORTATIONS OF PLANTS 

 FORBIDDEN. 



An order issued by the Second As- 

 sistant Postmaster General, December 

 16, 1913, prohibits the Importation 

 from foreign countries through the 

 mails of all plants and plant products 

 for propagation, including seeds, ex- 

 cept field, vegetable, and flower seeds. 

 This prohibition, therefore, applies to 

 bulbs, roots, and tubers, and to all 

 seeds of trees, shrubs, or other plants, 

 except only field, vegetable and flower 

 seeds. 



Cotton seed, which would be rated 

 as a field seed. is. however, prohibited 

 entry into the United States from any 

 foreign country except certain States 

 in Mexico, by Quarantine No. 8. and 

 this prohibition, therefore, naturally 

 extends to mail packages as well as 

 to shipments by other carriers. Do- 

 mestic Quarantine. No. 9 also pro- 

 hibits the movement of cotton seed 

 from Hawaii to the United States. 



Under the order issued by the Sec- 

 ond Assistant Postmaster General, 

 nursery stock and other plant prod- 

 ucts for propagation, except as noted, 

 received in the mails from foreign 

 countries are to be returned from the 

 post oflice of receipt, as prohibited, to 

 the country and place of origin. 



This restricts the carriage of such 

 products from foreign countries to 

 other means, such as by express or 

 freight. Importations by these meth- 

 ods pass through the customs office in 

 the normal way, and are under com- 

 plete control. Postal sendings are en- 

 tered under an entirely different sys- 

 tem and necessitate examination at 

 any little post office throughout the 

 United States. 



It is possible to transmit many in- 

 jurious insects and plant diseases in 

 lots of plants or seeds sent through 

 the mails, and the inspection of such 

 mail sendings is an impossibility with- 

 out a vast army of inspectors. It was, 

 further, found necessary to make the 

 restriction very broad, much broader 

 than the original definition of nursery 

 stock, for the reason that foreign 

 shippers, and postmasters as well, 

 were quite unable to make the dis- 

 tinction between nursery stock and 

 herbaceous plants, etc., and the only 

 safe course was to exclude all plants 

 from mail sendings with the exception 

 of the seeds noted, which are deemed 

 to carry comparatively little danger of 

 introducing insect pests or diseases. 

 C. L. M.viu.ATT. Chairman. 

 Federal Horticultural Board. 



The Lathyrus is divided into two 

 classes — the annual and the perennial. 

 The latter, which is seldom seen in 

 this part of the country, is used to 

 cover a trellis or pergola. It is very 

 easily grown and may be propagated 

 from cuttings taken in the autumn. 

 There are many varieties of peren- 

 nials, and some have from six to 

 twelve flowers on one stem. The flow- 

 ers grow close together and the stems 

 are inclined to be short. The flowers 

 lack good color, and for this reason, it 

 has never become a prominent flower. 



The annual sweet pea is becoming 

 very popular, both under glass and out 

 of doors, and great advancement has 

 been made in the past few years as to 

 length of stem and size of flowers. 



There are many out door varieties 

 and so easily grown that they are 

 found in almost every garden. The 

 writer knows of no other flower where 

 brighter colors are produced. 



The sweet pea originated in Sicily 

 and was sent to England over two 

 hundred years ago. Very little was 

 done to improve its size, until 1870, 

 when Henry Eckford took up the 

 work. In 1877, Thomas Laxton en- 

 gaged in improving on the sweet pea, 

 and was quite successful. W. Atlee 

 Burpee was about the first extensive 

 grower in America, and one who pro- 

 duced some very fine exhibition novel- 

 ties. At the present time, most of our 

 sweet pea seeds are grown in this 

 country. 



A few years ago, the well-known 

 variety "Countess Spencer" and its 

 sport "Helen Lewis" were put on the 

 market. From that time, the Spencers 

 flourished and are now considered the 

 best varieties we have. Since the 

 Sweet Pea Society of America was or- 

 ganized, great enthusiasm has been 

 shown among the sweet pea growers 

 in this country. 



Sweet Peas Under Glass. 



The first and most important requi- 

 site when growing these flowers un- 

 der glass, is to secure a light and 

 airy house, as good results can only 

 be obtained where there is light, air 

 and sunshine. They may be grown 

 either in pots, boxes or benches, but 

 do best when planted in the ground, 

 with a border such as is used in a 

 vinery, made with a drainage of brick 

 and stone, six or eight inches deep, 

 and filled in with about eighteen 

 inches of loam, using plenty ot cow 

 manure and ground bone. Sow seed 

 in rows running north and south, so 

 the sun can shine from both sides. 

 Tbey will do best in a cool temper- 

 ature, about 45 degrees at night, with 

 a raise of 15 to 20 degi'ees with sun- 

 light. Always give plenty of air, if 

 possible. As peas are subject to red 

 spider, it is always well to keep plenty 

 of moisture in the house. An occa- 

 sional spraying will be found bene- 

 ficial. Always watch for green fly, as 

 this insect, if allowed to remain, will 

 soon weaken the plants. 



There are a great many varieties 

 that do well under glass. Blanche 

 Ferry is a very old variety and is still 

 in cultivation, but in looking over the 



list, we find many flne varieties to 

 force, especially among the Unwins. 



For the Garden. 



Tliose who desire early sweet peas 

 for the garden will find great advan- 

 tage in the fall-sowing method. They 

 will not only bloom early, but bo 

 strong and of good color. In order 

 to have full success with this method, 

 small sashes are found to be the best 

 covering for winter, although they 

 can be grown successfully, covered 

 with plain spruce plank. 



One wishing to grow peas by this 

 method, should first select an opeu 

 space in the highest part of the gar- 

 den, where water will not lie and 

 freeze in winter, also where a hydrant 

 is close at hand, as they will require 

 an abundance of water in summer. 

 When preparing the ground in the 

 autumn, care should be taken to dig 

 the ground vei-y deep, putting in plenty 

 of well rotted cow manure. The 

 writer prefers to plant in double rows, 

 six inches apart. When the vines be- 

 come high enough, they will form a 

 wide row and the air can circulate 

 throughout it better than if planted 

 in one row. 



Place the rows four feet apart, run- 

 ning north and south, and plant the 

 seeds three inches deep, about Oct. 

 15. They will be safe without pro- 

 tection until Nov. 10. when a board 

 should be placed on each side of the 

 double row, and the sashes or boards, 

 whichever the grower wishes to use, 

 should be put on at night, only when 

 frost is expected, until about Dec. 1, 

 after which date sashes should remain 

 on night and day, giving plenty of air 

 during the day. When the severe 

 weather sets in, it will be necessary 

 to fill in between the boards with long 

 straw and manure from the horse 

 stable. When the temperature drops 

 to about twenty-five at night it will 

 1)0 necessary to cover the sashes with 

 long straw, which should be taken oil 

 during the day to let in light and air. 



It is always well to give plenty of 

 air, as this will keep the plants strong 

 and enable them to stand the cold 

 weather. Do not allow the plants tO' 

 lie on the ground in winter; better 

 use small brush to hold them erect. 

 The most important part is not to re- 

 move the sashes too early in the 

 spring. April 20 is time enough to 

 remove sashes for the summer. Al- 

 though they will need to be taken 

 off during warm weather, it is not 

 wise to put them away until this date. 

 They will then be ready for the brush. 

 After staking, it is well to dig the 

 ground between the rows, as it will 

 be well trodden down after the win- 

 ter's work. Fork the soil up around 

 the vines, so as to form a trench be- 

 tween the rows, which will help to 

 hold the water. Later fill this trench 

 with manure to retain the moisture 

 during hot days. FVequent watering 

 will be found beneficial; never allow 

 them to become too dry. As we have 

 found them to be strong feeders, we 

 advocate feeding once each week with 

 sheep manure or nitrate of soda, or 



