IRISH GARDENING 



21 



preparation. Dig deeply as early as possible, 

 the earlier the better. As the old worthy who 

 sometimes digs in this garden says : " Turn it up 

 and under, and let the frost at it — its as good as 

 half manure." When we mix in the manure — 

 if possible cow manure on light land, horse 

 manure on heavy — let us mix in some air-slaked 

 lime. I had been brought up to believe that to 

 mix lime with manure injured the fertilising 

 properties of the latter ; well, it may do so for 

 some tilings, but certainly not for Sweet Peas. 

 Let us read what we can about the preparation 

 of the ground, but let us see to it that the 

 digging and trenching are done. The grower of 

 the finest Sweet Peas shown in Ireland in 1012 

 told me that he trenches his ground six feet deep. 

 T saw lately in a gardening paper a paragraph 

 telling of a man who was in an office all 

 day. He made up his mind to trench his 

 garden, so he bought two big flare lamps 

 and did the job by their light. I hope he will 

 win. 



Another P. is Promptness Do not wait till 

 everyone else has bought the cream of the 

 Sweet Pea seed. I do not mean all the novelties ; 

 many of them would be beyond our means, and 

 many of them will be no better than the older 

 varieties. Get one or more, but for the real 

 stand-by get some of the well-known varieties. 

 The following are old friends of mine, and if 

 well grown very hard to beat : — Mrs. Hard- 

 castle Sykes (pale pink), Clara Curtis (cream), 

 Helen Lewis (orange pink), Etta Dyke (white), 

 Edna Unwin Improved or Thomas Stevenson 

 (orange scarlet), and Nettie Jenkins (lavender), 

 this makes a great six ; and for thirteen : — 

 Elsie Herbert (white edged pink), Evelyn Hemus 

 or Mrs. C. W. Breadmore (cream edged pink), 

 Earl Spencer (orange), John Ingman (carmine), 

 Constance Oliver (cream pink), and one of the 

 crimsons — Dobbie's or Maud Holmes or King 

 Edward Spencer, and for a dark shade Nubian. 

 I give the above because I know they are good 

 and they are distinct. If you grow these 

 thirteen varieties, purchasing the seed from a 

 reliable source, and do them well, you will be 

 sure of a distinct six or twelve bunches. 



Often one sees at a show someone exhibiting 

 fine big flowers on good stems, but each bunch of 

 the six or twelve is of an uninteiesting shade, 

 dirty blue or dull pink — this latter is very 

 prominent as a rule. 



Bright coloured flowers well set up, each 

 bunch, be it white or pink or cream or lavender, 

 or any of the other exquisite shades, fresh and 

 spotless, the owner of these will probably see 

 the coveted red card on them when the judging 

 is over. 



Will anyone agree with me that the spotting, 



which is usually attributed to rain, really comes 

 from badly prepared ground ? I have seen 

 flowers spotted as the pard, and I know they 

 were grown on plants planted in this case in 

 heavy land. Some trenching had been done, 

 but after the plants were planted out and 

 staked no further care was given : no forking 

 along the rows, no dressings of liquid manures ; 

 the earth all hard and congealed with rain and 

 sun. I do not believe the roots could work well 

 under such circumstances as these ; and if the 

 roots are not working and finding plenty of 

 easily assimilated food we cannot expect clear 

 coloured flowers. A tank or barrel of rain- 

 water in which a sackful of soot has been 

 soaking for some time, some sweepings of the 

 hen house, and some cow manure or sheep 

 droppings if obtainable : all this stirred up, and 

 say half an ounce of nitrate of soda mixed with 

 each gallon and applied to the Sweet Pea plants 

 after rain if possible. If there is no rain, water 

 well with clear rain-water, or well-water which 

 has been in a tub in the sunshine for some hours. 

 Do not ever water with well or ] mm})- water at 

 the temperature at which it is drawn from the 

 well or pump. This liquid manure is very safe 

 and brings up the colour, but we must vary it 

 and give one of the patent Sweet Pea manures. 

 Mackereth*s is good, and has in it the re- 

 quired amount of iron necessary for the colour 

 making. 



Our third P. is Perseverance. This we must 

 have if we as exhibitors are to get out of the 

 list of the " also ran."' 



Having dug our ground and bought our seeds 

 we proceed to sow^ them. This year I am 

 chipping all the seeds, and I find they are 

 germinating splendidly. The chipping is easily 

 done : with a sharp knife cut a nick or chip 

 completely away a tiny patch of the outer skin 

 of the seed as far away as possible from the 

 scar. 



Sweet Peas are quite hardy no doubt, but 

 just when they are springing up it does not take 

 much to injure them — excessive clamp, a drip in 

 the greenhouse, or slugs, not to speak of mice. 

 Never shall I forget sowing seven dozen valuable 

 seeds of Sweet Peas in a greenhouse, and next 

 morning finding they had every one been eaten 

 by mice. Since that episode I sow in boxes 

 and stand them in a warm cellar till the seedlings 

 show ; then I put them in a spare room window ; 

 they do get rather drawn up, but later one can 

 nip' them back, and when the days get longer 

 and the sun stronger I stand them out in a 

 sunny position, and they harden off quick 

 enough. When they get hardy one can plant 

 them out in their permanent positions. In 1911 

 I rJan+ed out the first batch about Feb. 12th, 



