CHAPTER IX 



OF OUTDOOR AND INDOOR SOWINGS WHICH GIVE THE 

 BETTER RESULTS 



No matter for what purpose Sweet Peas may be grown, 

 whether for exhibition, garden decoration, or for decora- 

 tive uses in a cut state, it should be the aim of the 

 cultivator to produce flowers of the very best. Opinion 

 is pretty evenly divided on the question of which method 

 of culture produces the better flowers. In the earlier 

 days few growers followed any other practice than that 

 of sowing the seeds outdoors. Latterly, however, 

 things have changed. Since the advent of the National 

 Sweet Pea Society and the keen rivalry that has 

 developed as a consequence of its annual Exhibitions, 

 leading growers have striven hard to find newer methods 

 of culture whereby they may gain an advantage over 

 their fellows. In that endeavour one of the first matters 

 to receive attention was that of raising the plants in pots 

 and boxes under glass, either in a cool greenhouse, or in 

 a cold frame. Few growers thought of making a sowing 

 in the autumn, and as there was, and is still, a natural 

 desire to produce Sweet Peas as early in the summer as 

 possible, means were taken to raise the seedlings under 

 glass in the early spring and in this way obtain an 

 advantage of a week or two in point of time. For 

 making a display at the early shows this was a distinct 

 gain, and now the question has arisen, Do the flowers 

 lose or gain as a consequence of being raised indoors ? 



