July, 1913 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



175 



Success ^th Sv^cct Peas 



H. M. Lay, Walkerton, Ont. 



MOST authorities urge the early 

 planting of sweet peas in heavy 

 soil. My garden has a solid clay 

 foundation, and I find it advisable to 

 prepare the ground in the fall. This has 

 been done by digging trenches as deep 

 as the clay substratum will permit, and 

 manuring heavily with good rotten 

 stable manure. 



Sowing in the spring is done as soon 

 as the snow is off the ground, and var- 

 ies according to weather conditions. It 

 has been effected as early as March 24th, 

 and is usually completed before the fif- 

 teenth of April. The best results have 

 been obtained with American seeds, al- 

 though I have tried both Canadian and 

 English. Sowing is done very thinly, 

 at least four inches between each seed. 

 Supports are put in position before the 

 seed is up as this avoids injury to the 

 young seedlings. 



The young plants seem to take most 

 kindly at first to wire netting, but I 

 have largely used two by two inch posts, 

 about seven feet long, inserted about a 

 foot in the ground and about ten feet 

 apart in the row. Double headed tacks 

 are driven into the posts, about four 

 inches apart, before they are planted, 

 and through these strong twine is 

 strung. The end posts in the row 

 should be substantially guyed. 



During the growing season constant 

 atten'tion is required in tying the haulms 

 to the horizontal strings with raffia. 

 This keeps the bloom sprays straight. 

 After the plants are up frequent culti- 

 vation and weeding is persisted in ac- 



companied by a good dressing on both 

 sides of .the row, of good short barn- 

 yard manure. Towards the end of July 

 feeding with liquid manure is commenc- 

 ed. Changes are rung on nitrate of 

 soda, sulphate of potash, ammonium sul- 

 phate, soot water, Rex fertilizer, and 

 infusions of poultry manure. These 

 have the best results if given after rain 

 or watering. A sprinkling of wood 

 ashes along the rows is given early in 

 the season. • 



Flowering usually commences about 

 the end of June. In order to keep a 

 constant succession of bloom until well 

 on in October the flowers must be gath- 

 ered so frequently that no pods are 

 formed. In the very hot weather blooms 

 intended for exhibition are kept from 

 burning by some growers by being 

 shaded with widths of cheese cloth 

 stretched on frames above the rows. If 

 one had time to take this precaution 

 I believe that they would be well repaid, 

 as some of the red and crimson varieties 

 esp)ecially are soon spoiled by the mid- 

 day heat. Partial experimenting on this 

 line last summer convinced me of the 

 benefit of shading. 



The sweet pea is one of the most 

 charming of flowers responding in the 

 most generous fashion to the care of the 

 gardener. After a lavish and brilliant 

 display of blooms, .some of which gained 

 recognition at the Toronto and London 

 fall exhibitions, throughout the months 

 of July, August and September, the 

 warm days of the late autumn still found 

 many a beautiful spike of pink, lilac. 



crimson and white gracefully nodding 

 above their gray green hedges. 



Angel's Trumpet 



Bernard Baker, WUtby, Oat. 



About the middle of May, 1912, I 

 brought from the cellar a tub which con- 

 tained the skeleton of a big nine-year- 

 old Angel's Trumpet. I pruned back 

 the bare branches and gave it some fresh 

 soil. Soon it began to show signs of 

 life, and leaves started to come out, long 

 entire leaves of a rather light green 

 color. The plant gradually grew until 

 in September it reached the height of 

 six and one-half feet. 



Buds began to form in August and 

 grew steadily. The flowers, tightly 

 closed, broke through the gamopetalous 

 calyx and extended to full length before 

 opening. On the tenth of September, 

 the first flower opened, and on the 

 twenty-fifth there were at least fifty per- 

 fect flowers out at one time. The aver- 

 age flower was about twelve inches long 

 and from five to six inches across. In- 

 side they were a beautiful waxy white, 

 with long whitish stamens and pistil. 

 Without, the corolla was not nearly so 

 waxy in appearance and not quite so 

 pure in color. 



One could best realize the full beauty 

 of the big flowers at night when they 

 were fully expanded. The waxy centre 

 sparkled in the lamplight and the purity 

 of the whiteness seemed then most 

 striking. At night, too, the many flow- 

 ers gave forth a pleasing spicy frag- 

 rance which permeated the air. In the 

 daytime some of this beauty was lost, 

 for then the flowers, with the exception 

 of the very oldest, closed and the frag- 

 rance was not nearly so noticeable. 



