66 SWEET-PEAS. 



produce great disappointment. There is one way 

 -of ascertaining the goodness of the seed, which 

 will not deceive. Previous to sowing, plunge your 

 •lupin, sunflower, &c., seeds into a tumbler of water: 

 :t.hc good seed will sink, while the light and useless 

 part remains floating on the surface. 



If you grow your own seed, exchange it every 

 two years with your neighbors. Seeds love change 

 of soil : they degenerate, if repeatedly grown and 

 sown upon the same spot, particularly sweet-peas. 



Sweet-peas should be put into the ground early 

 in March, for they wdll bear the wind and weather. 

 Make a circle round a pole, or some object to which 

 they may cling as they rise; and put the peas an 

 inch deep, having soaked them previously in water 

 well saturated with arsenic, to guard them from the 

 depredations of birds and mice. Add an outer cir- 

 cle of peas every month, so that a continual bloom 

 may appear. The circle first sown will ripen and 

 pod for seed in the centre, while the outer vines 

 will continue flowering till late in the autumn. 

 When you have gathered a sufficient number of 

 ripe pods, cut away all the pods wuich may after- 

 wards form, with your knife. This strengthens 

 the vines, ^nd throws all their vigor into repeated 

 blooms. 



Be very careful to throw away the arsenic water 

 upon your heap of compost, and do not put that 

 powerful poison into any thing which may be used 

 afterwards in the house. Soak the peas in a flow- 

 er-pot saucer, which is never recpiired for any other 

 purpose, and keep it on a shelf in the tool-house, 

 covered up. Three or four hours' soaking will be 

 suflicient. If the wind and frosts be powerful and 

 continued, shelter the peas through March, by cov- 

 ering them with straw or matting every evening. 



