FLOWERS FOR EVERYBODY'S GARDEN. 91 



thereby want them to be straight lines or square cornered beds. 

 No! Make them with curved lines and rounded corners and 

 as crooked as you will, and the better and more natural they will 

 look. And the same in placing your different plants. Don't have 

 each variety in straight lines; for best effect plant rather in 

 irregular patches, letting the different kinds run into each other 

 without any preceptible boundaries. The effect will be more 

 pleasing and results more satisfactory. 



One plant which I really have overlooked that ought to be 

 perhaps the first one planted in any garden is Sweet Peas. This 

 is such a general favorite that of course it must be in everybody's 

 garden. It is of such easy culture and so satisfactory in every 

 way that no one should have any trouble raising them or having 

 an abundance of flowers from them. The mistake most common 

 is to sow them too thickly and in poor soil. They love a rich, 

 deep soil, and for the best result the soil should be broken up 

 eighteen inches deep and if of a poor, gravelly nature put several 

 inches of stable — not horse — manure in the bottom. Plant the 

 seeds as early as the conditions will allow (I have planted as 

 early as the fifteenth of March one year) and plant four inches 

 deep. Sow thinly or thin out to at least eight inches between 

 each plant and let them well cover the ground before giving 

 them any support, at which time a good mulch of old manure 

 should be applied first. The best possible support is stout brush 

 trimmings from plum trees, and have this about four 

 feet high and strong enough so it will not break down. Treated 

 this way you will soon have the brush all covered and a solid bed 

 of charming flowers, and if in a good, open situation and all 

 flowers picked off so they do not produce seeds they should be a 

 joy all summer. 



That's a point to be remembered about all annuals — do not 

 let them set seeds, or they will soon stop producing flowers. And 

 remember to have your soil in good condition before sowing or 

 planting so the plants may have a chance to get down deep in 

 the ground with their roots, so they will be able to withstand the 

 hot, dry spells of weather we occasionally get. My idea is that 

 annuals for best results should never have any artificial water- 

 ing, and if the soil is right they will not need it, but a good plan 

 is about the time they commence to bloom to apply a mulch of 

 some kind. And I would also add to not plant your annuals in 

 little raised mounds, as is often seen. This is the worst possible 



